《Skill Creation in the Fantasy World》


 Chapter 1: End of The Ordinary Boy.

    <h4>Chapter 1: End of The Ordinary Boy.</h4>


    It was the day when Felix, who after the end of his college finally seeded in getting the useless certificate of degree in his studies of Communications, and had to start his job at a call center nearby.


    Well, it can''t be helped as he was one of the many orphans staying at the Prospects Orphanage, where even food was hardly given to the always-growing children.


    So there was hardly anyone getting into a prestigious college for better education unless they got a schrship.


    Taking care of oneself was the basic skill that the kids needed at any orphanage for them to survive in this harsh world unless they were lucky enough to be adopted.


    A thing that Felix learned because he became used to taking care of himself.


    Walking down the pavement of the road with one hand carrying his suitcase, and the other hand busy searching the way to his future workce in the maps on his smartphone, Felix gasped at how hot the climate was.


    "Man, why is the sun especially hot today? Is it telling me to stay at home and not go to work by burning me up?"


    As he blew some air at the gap near the neck of his shirt, Felix couldn''t help but think about how his whole life had gone and hade to this.


    As far as he remembers, he was always at the orphanage and had no recollection of what could be a family.


    Well even though he didn''t have any family, the kids and nuns at the orphanage gave him much love for him to never wish for something more.


    Among the kids at the orphanage, he was the most average one.


    Some were good at studies and some at sports, while all he did was surf the for anime, web novels, and games.


    So a bit ashamed of what he was doing, Felix gave his best in studying and somewhat got passable marks in school before getting himself into college to study BA in Communications which was as per his concern the perfect degree for him, as he was not good with studies and also too poor to afford those expensive but good education.


    That made him more ordinary and average than he previously was.


    Now that he had finallypleted his studies, and after getting some luck with his job interview, Felix decided to give his new job the best he could and atst, try contributing to the orphanage with some small donations.


    "Ahh! Why are the cars so slow, hurry up I got a job to do."


    Jogging in the same ce, Felix cursed seeing as how he was gettingte to his work.


    He looked at his third-hand watch that at least showed the correct time and started panicking at howte he could be.


    "Am I going get scolded on the first day of my work?....or at worst fired because I''m not fit to be an employee at theirpany? Ughh! I better stay positive and not wish for my own downfall."


    Somewhat stressed and unhappy, Felix turned away from the unstoppable trafiic and looked at the sky as he thought,


    ''Well, after living an average life and also being an ordinary person, I don''t think I''ll ever have a happy life that I can enjoy.''


    The traffic lights turned green and our protagonist took his steps crossing the road when suddenly his suitcase felt somewhat empty.


    ''Huh?''


    Stopping in the middle of the road, he looked down to see that his documents and files were all on the ground; and the button of the case that should have kept it all safe was slowly rolling down across the road.


    His face scrunched up in annoyance looking at the mess.


    "Oh Damn!! Is this for real?? How can I be so unlucky for doing this on the first day at my job when I''m also beingte? It must have been a scam when that suspicious guy was selling a nice suitcase for such a cheap price."


    Felix thought of the guy with silver teeth, who had his hands sped together selling the bunch of bags with a cheap smile on his face while bragging about how they were made by first-ss tailors.


    He couldn''t help but gnash his teeth and curse that scammer.


    "Just you wait, the next time I see you I''ll make sure to break those teeth of yours and make a selling from them."


    Bending down to pick up his belongings from the ground, he started collecting them under the horns of the vehicles and the non-stop traffic.


    After finally picking them up, he stood in the middle of the road when suddenly a loud horn made him turn towards the source.


    ''HONK!! HONK!!''


    And there he saw it, arge truck that seemed too old to be driven and might break apart at any moment.


    But the thing that made him widen his eyes was that the forsaken truck was rushing straight toward him almost making him pee in his pants.


    ''Ahh, this must be the Legendary Truck-kun that sends isekai aspirants to their desired worlds.''


    Knowing that the truck was at a speed that he couldn''t escape from, Felix smiled sadly as he gave up on running away and decided to do something that made the public around him scream in horror.


    ''Well, my life was not that satisfying anyways, at most average. The only regret I may have is that I cannot give back to the people who made my life somewhat good. And if there was a next life, I hope I can be content and enjoy it without holding back.''


    The truck drifted on the road, turning sideways, but it didn''t change it''s direction as it headed right onwards to the frozen Felix.


    ''Also, somebody please delete myputer''s history...sigh.''


    Closing his eyes as he didn''t want to look at the horrified driver from the truck''s window who was pressing the broken brakes of the old truck, Felix made the famous Titanic pose that ''Rose'' did, by raising his arms and making himself a T-figure.


    Many people at the scene took out their smartphones to capture the shocking yet artistic moment. A guy wearing an anime t-shirt on the side was rendered speechless as he gawked with envy.


    The world turned silent, except for the screeching of the truck and the clicking of photos.


    And at longst, the Legendary cliche of a truck crashing into an average pathetic young man took ce on this fateful day.


    "CRASHHH!!"....."thud".


    =====


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 Chapter 2: Is this an Isekai??

    <h4>Chapter 2: Is this an Isekai??</h4>


    Dark.


    That was all he could see, wait maybe the word ''see'' doesn''t fit right here.


    He could feel it, the darkness that didn''t leave any space for light.


    ''Where am I?''


    Feeling as if he was floating in some direction, the soul tried to move his body or what could be his apparition possibly.


    After trying some more, the soul finally stopped as he felt he was not moving in his desired direction, but moving towards something that was pulling him in its direction.


    He didn''t have any collection of what was going on as he spent his time in the dark space, where he couldn''t produce any thoughts, or more like something was not allowing him to have a stable mind to think.


    Being in the dark and unknown could make even the toughest and strongest of beings feel the terror of what was yet toe.


    But the soul, as if not having the slightest inkling of what was happening just floated about the space.


    It felt like an eternity while it also felt like a few minutes had passed when suddenly he felt the pull he was feeling all the time be stronger and stronger.


    His surroundings started dazzling as they changed from a mix of different colors like that of a rainbow and he felt himself dragged into the infinite end.


    A few secondster, the pull reached its peak and suddenly everything became bright white.


    The soul couldn''t resist anything as he felt like dropping into a white canvas with great force.


    And then everything disappeared bing dark again, as if all of what happened was a dream.


    **********


    Felix felt like he spent a lot of time traveling somewhere and at longst had reached his destination.


    ''Ouch! It hurts.''


    Struggling to move his body which seems to have been tied strongly, he felt pain around several parts of his body.


    Slowly opening his eyes which happened to be the only thing he could do at the moment, he gazed at the world after a long time that felt like an eternity.


    It was still dark but not so dark that he couldn''t even perceive his surroundings and look at where he was.


    It seemed that he was inside of something with a rtively small space but it was still tightly upied with things here and there.


    The thing that he was on seemed to be moving as he felt it slightly shaking, and giving a bump as if on a poorly maintained road.


    ''Where is this?''


    He tried saying, only to find that his mouth was stuffed with a cloth, because of which he ended up making some gibberish sounds.


    Felix felt his arms hurt before he looked at his body which appeared to be smaller and malnourished, and skin that looked a bit pale with lots of bruises on every part of his body.


    It was the first time for him to feel such pain as he never got that badly hurt or in an ident considering his crappy luck.


    ''Why is my body covered in bruises that don''t look like it was done by merely falling or an ident? More like getting thrashed around by buffed guys in a UFC match.'', his mind buzzed with thoughts.


    ''Wait, what am I even wearing?''


    He turned down to look at his clothes.


    No, it wasn''t worthy enough to be called a cloth, because it was just a piece of sleeveless white dirty rag that covered his body from the neck to his ankles. Something that could be torn apart by just pulling at it.


    ''What the hell is going on!!''


    Felix tried removing the ropes that were tying him but gave up after some minutes of struggling as he couldn''t seem to free himself of the constraints.


    He tried poking his tongue out as the cloth that covered his mouth slowly came out.


    "Huff! Huff! Ohh shit that felt suffocating.", he gasped.


    ''Wait my voice seems different.''


    "Cough cough...Hmm...Mic testing 1,2...3."


    ''My voice seems childish, did I be younger?''


    Still clueless about what was going on, a thought suddenly entered his mind.


    ''No way!! Did I...Did I get isekai''d?''


    Staring at the ceiling and shaking with excitement as his hands trembled with joy, Felix shouted.


    "Holy shit!! Wasn''t I killed by that truck? How the hell did I get sent to another world?"


    And then he remembered the cliche troupe.


    ''Wait If I got transmigrated to another world, then that means-''


    Acting like a rabies patient with red eyes, he started shouting again.


    "SYSTEM!! Come out!!"


    Seeing that nothing happened, he tried again now on the verge of insanity.


    "STATUS!! YES!! Show me my Status!!


    Still, nothing out of the ordinary happened as he barked like a dog.


    "Hmm? Where is my golden finger??"


    A bit flustered, Felix asked himself wondering whether his potential ''system'' was still locked or if he didn''t get one.


    "Huff! Let''s try to calm down and analyze what''s happening around first."


    Calming himself down as he took deep breaths, he started thinking about his situation with closed eyes.


    "First of all, Why am I tied?"


    Thinking for a bit, Felix started thinking that after getting thrashed around for some reason, the same guys must have tied him up.


    "But for what reason"


    Wanting to think of a good reason to tie a small and malnourished boy like him, he sank into deep thought.


    Sadly he didn''t have the time to do that as the thing that was carrying him suddenly stopped, making his body jolt forward and hit his head on the wooden wall.


    "What the-"


    With a ''neigh'' sound of that of a horse, the curtains that did not let much light inside of the small space opened up revealing the zing sun out there.


    And with the sunlight came a shadow of a huge guy who used two of his bulky arms and picked Felix up by holding his neck.


    "Now now kid...What were you muttering inside the carriage? Don''t you know that ves are not allowed to speak and shout!"


    Lifting Felix above him, the buff and bald guy who was about 2 meters tall shouted near his ears almost making him deaf.


    Resisting the strong arms on his neck and gasping for air, Felix looked at the scary guy with fear and thought about what he said.


    ''ve? Did I just be a ve?''


    Widening his eyes, Felix screamed inside his head.


    ''Why is my isekai so different from the cliche one?''

 Chapter 3: A Slave.

    <h4>Chapter 3: A ve.</h4>


    "You. Handle the merchandise with caution or you''ll regret it."


    A stern voice made the huge guy stiffen up as he hurriedly ced Felix on the ground and patted his small head.


    "Yes Yes Master, I''ll make sure to handle the job perfectly."


    The huge guy looked at his Master, trembling as he remembered what happened to his partner who didn''t do his job as his master said.


    The man being called ''Master'' was a bit shorter than the huge guy standing at about 1.7m tall and was wearing a brown robe over his thin body and holding a cane.


    His sharp nose and pale lips showed ack of sleep and his long gray hair looked notbed for several months. He looked around his forties if you ignore his non-beard chin.


    His brown eyes were narrowed as he looked at a small booklet in his hand calcting his profit and loss that may result from the trade today.


    Felix on the other hand, who finds it hard to ept that he got turned from a new employee to a ve after getting isekai''d, just muttered something in a low voice.


    "ve? How? But why? Wasn''t I supposed to be a hero? Rule the world with my Golden finger and get a harem of world-ss beauties?"


    "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED??!!", he roared at the sky.


    Abruptly hearing that shout, the huge guy jumped up with a confused face thinking what was wrong with this ve.


    "Hmm? What''s wrong with this little fe.", he said with a curious expression.


    The gray-haired man looked over at Felix who was staring at the ground with dull eyes that belonged to a person who got betrayed when he was at his happiest moment.


    "Well it can''t be helped after living in the slums all his life and getting thrashed around, he was lucky enough to be alive. So it doesn''t matter if the kid is a bit broken. His buyers don''t need a ve for handling work, but just his body to practice some dark ritual anyways."


    He said without the slightest of emotions in his eyes.


    The huge man gulped, scared of hearing about such rituals, and looked at the kid who was zoning out with a bit of sympathy before an evil idea came into his mind.


    "M-Master, if the b-boy is going to be sacrificed then why not give him to me to y with for a few hours", he said somewhat holding back his desires.


    His Master turned to him as he looked at the huge guy''s perverted eyes, thinking how he ended up with such fools and making sure to not hire such worthless workers next time, but then he sighed.


    "Whatever, just don''t kill the kid because if you do, then you''ll have to take his ce."


    Patting his robust chest, the huge guy replied,


    "Don''t worry Master! I like to do it slow and gently."


    The man just waved off his hands telling him to go away and do his thing, not to involve himself in such foul acts.


    Felix after hearing their conversation seems to have finally woken up as he felt cold sweat running down his back. Looking at the buff man he thought.


    ''THIS GORILLA WANTS TO DO WHAT??''


    "NO!...WHAT-!"


    But before he could continue his shout, the huge guy suddenly caught him in his arms and ran towards a broken house near them.


    He pushed open the door with great force before throwing Felix over the other end of the room and rubbed his hands together, as he licked his lips in a perverted manner.


    "Hehehe kid, you should be proud to be the first boy to get together with me. And don''t worry, I''ll take good care of you"


    Felix widened his eyes at the thought of being the first boy for the huge man.


    ''What the hell do you mean be proud of that!!''


    Sitting himself up and mustering his courage he looked at the huge man and said.


    "M-Mister I''m not that good for you to e-enjoy, in fact, I''m so small and dirty. It''s not going to be w-worth it"


    He tried convincing the huge man as they were almost one meter away from each other.


    Meanwhile, the huge man just made a huge grin as he kind of trembled, but out of bliss this time.


    "Just perfect I say.....small and dirty...that just turns me on more"


    ''This sick mothafu-''


    Felix thought as the huge man came near him while bending down and grabbing a knife from inside his bulky jacket.


    ''What''s he doing with the knife'', Felix thought as he turned paler.


    Taking the knife and slowly cutting the ropes that tied the boy, the huge man took heavy breaths as he looked at the pale face of Felix and gently said.


    "I''ll make sure to remove the ropes to not make them interfere with our holy practices."


    Felix felt like vomiting when he heard the sweet voice that the huge man used to quell his worries about removing the ropes for their heavenly practice.


    ''This guy is for real. I better look for a way out or else...no don''t even think about it.''


    After removing the ropes and also taking a deep sniff of the kid, the huge man stood up again throwing the knife away into a corner as he looked down at the kid as if he were beauty and his trophy.


    Felix hurriedly moved backward putting his back against the wall and looked at the huge man with a re while protecting his body with his small and thin hands like a damsel in distress.


    ''How can I get away from this'', thought Felix as he looked around the room looking for something that could save him from this pervert man.


    "Hehe, you doing that makes me want to embrace you more."


    The huge manughed scratching between his pants as he looked at the small figure of the boy.


    Thinking of jumping at the little boy he suddenly remembered the fetish of his old partner of using some unspeakable objects when doing the art of pleasure.


    "Oh wait, to make it more memorable as this is the only chance I''ll get to use them on you, I''ll bring something that will make you feel really good my dear boy."


    Saying that, the huge man who was going to remove his belts ran out of the house holding his pants tight to not make them fall.


    "Haa finally some time for myself."


    Standing up while holding the wall with one hand, Felix looked around the room and tried walking around searching for anything.


    "I better look for something to defend myself with against that pervert-"


    Remembering how that guy was gonnae back with potential relief objects, he trembled out of fear and anger.


    ''I must escape from here, but running out of this house is not an option as there is another one of them near the carriage so I must think of another n.''


    Thinking about a n to escape from this forsaken ce, he saw the knife that the huge man used to cut the ropes lying in a corner. Picking it up and weighing it in his hands, a thought came to him.


    ''How about I kill him?''


    Felix looked at the knife while sinking in deep thoughts but what he did not realize was that he was smiling eerily with a crazy look in his eyes.

 Chapter 4: First Time Experience.

    <h4>Chapter 4: First Time Experience.</h4>


    Hearing the rushing footsteps outside the room, Felix quickly went back to sit on the floor with his back against the wall and made a fearful expression on his face.


    He didn''t forget to hide the knife behind his cloth rag to fool the pervert.


    The huge man entered to room and saw Felix looking at him with fear.


    He couldn''t help but chuckle as he made his way towards the boy.


    "Hehe kid did you miss me? Look at what I brought for you"


    Raising his hands, he showed the fearful boy things that a young child should not know the use of.


    But looking at those things that he was slightly familiar with as a young boy going through puberty with some fetishes, Felix felt a chill run down his spine.


    ''Did those toys that some professionals used also got transmigrated with me?''


    Realizing how simr the objects looked like those toys in his previous world, he froze at the mere thought of getting yed with those things especially when it was done by a huge buff guy.


    ''There''s only one option left, or else I''ll get my chrysanthemum forcibly plucked by this pervert gori''


    Forcing himself to stop thinking of the scene of being forced ra*ped by the huge man, Felix looked at what was going to happen next and readied himself by holding the knife behind his back with one hand.


    The huge man threw the things beside him within his arm''s reach and knelt in front of the cute little boy.


    He couldn''t help but reach out his hands and caress the face of the scared boy while looking at his fearful eyes.


    "I''ll enjoy you to my heart''s content"


    With a perverted expression etching on his face, the huge man bent his head down between Felix''s legs.


    ''This is it!! I must do it!!''


    Not holding back any longer Felix raised the hand that he held the knife with and bringing it above the huge man''s head, he gripped it with both of his hands before stabbing it down as fast as he could.


    *fwoosh*


    The knife deeply entered through behind the huge man''s neck and blood suddenly sshed on Felix''s face.


    "AAAH!! W-What the fuc-"


    The huge man shouted as he tried removing the knife that was deeply stabbed behind his neck.


    Tightly grasping the hilt of the knife with both of his hands raised back, he pulled the knife out as more blood fell from the wound.


    Felix looking at so much blood for the first time nked for a few seconds as the thought entered his mind.


    ''Did I...Did I just do that...''


    After finally removing the knife that was imnted in him by the little boy, the huge man fell behind on the cold floor as he could feel the pain traveling from every nerve of his body starting from the neck.


    "You bitch!! Fuck this shit, I''m gonna kill you now."


    Shouted the huge man as he felt hatred towards the little boy for hurting him with a knife, he tried sitting up from the ground but failed as his spinal cord was not allowing him to perform such movement.


    Felix broke out of his thoughts as he hurriedly crawled near the knife that was thrown aside.


    Holding the knife with trembling hands, he looked at the fallen huge guy and made his heart cold.


    ''It''s do or die now, I can''t hesitate or it''ll be me getting killed.''


    Pushing away all his thoughts and running towards the huge guy, Felix tried stabbing him again but only this time he aimed the knife at the guy''s heart that was right in the open as hey on the ground huffing for breath.


    The hurried footsteps made the huge guy turn towards his right only to see a cute little boy with an eerie smile on his face running towards him with tightly holding a knife in front of him.


    "W-What are you d-doing, Stay away fro-"


    Too bad he couldn''t end his sentence as Felix stabbed the knife right into the middle of his chest.


    "Sshhluck!"


    The knife entered deeply into his chest and he felt pain spreading across his chest.


    But it was not the end as he felt the boy removing the knife and again stabbing him on the left part of his chest.


    Felix didn''t stop as he raised the knife again and brought it down on the right part of the huge man''s chest as his eyes turned red from all the craziness.


    The huge man stared at the ceiling of the broken house as he took his final breath after saying thest words.


    "I-it was supposed ...cough... to be f-fun..."


    Felix looked at the corpse of the huge man before he squatted near the wall and vomited very little as he had nothing in his stomach to vomit.


    [Ding!!]


    [Congrattion to the host for sessfully awakening the Skill Creation System!]


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]


    A cold mechanical voice suddenly rang inside his mind as Felix looked around cautiously before shouting.


    "System!! System Is that you??"


    Felix shouted as he asked vehemently towards the nk space.


    [The host seems to be in an abnormal state, it is advised for the host to stay calm and not act stupid.]


    "Huh, what did you say, Stupid? Shut the fuck up! You useless system came sote that I was one step away from getting my cherry popped."


    Remembering how the pervert huge man caressed his face, Felix couldn''t help but kick the guy''s corpse on the ground a few times in anger.


    Finally a bit satisfied he turned to look around as he asked curiously,


    "Anyways System, tell me about you."


    [After sessfully killing a being higher than your own rank, you proved that you were worthy enough to use the system.]


    "You mean after escaping from something what was worse than death?"


    Felix asked sarcastically as he didn''t believe that the system would let him suffer so much.


    "Do you miss a screw or something? Weren''t you supposed toe out the moment I woke up?"


    [The system was initially programmed as such but looking at how the host was behaving after he woke up. It was decided that the host was not deemed worthy of using a system.]


    Looking back at how crazy he acted after he woke up in the carriage, Felix couldn''t help but blush in embarrassment as he snorted at the system.


    "Well, after getting isekai''d, of course I''ll look for a system in this new ce."


    [It is advised for the host to handle his current situation before acting stupid again.]


    Hearing the system say that, Felix came back to reality and felt cold sweat running down his back as he remembered that there was another man who could be much stronger than the huge man.


    "System quick tell me what you can do"


    [System can show the host his status and skill creation board.]


    "Alright then. Show me my status"


    [Ding! Calcting the stats and abilities of the host]


    [Finished!]


    [Status]


    [Name: Felix]


    [Race: Human]


    [Age: 14]


    [Sex: Male]


    [Mage Cultivation: Rank 0]


    [Warrior Cultivation: Rank 0]


    [Talent: ¡ï¡ï ]


    [State: Bruised with a weak and pathetic body.]


    [Skills: None]


    [Skill Points: 10]

 Chapter 5: I can create any Skill??

    <h4>Chapter 5: I can create any Skill??</h4>


    As Felix looked at his status, he couldn''t help but ask the system,


    "System, how is my age 14 when I look like a 10-year-old kid?"


    [The host''s body seems to have been malnourished and weak resulting in no growth in the structure of its bones and muscles.]


    ''Damn did this boy not eat anything for him to be so thin and short? Well considering he was an orphan just like me while also being in the slums it must have been hard to even survive already''


    Felix thought deeply as he saw the bruises that were covering almost every part of his scrawny body. Suddenly his stomach growled as he felt hungry after surviving all the trouble.


    ''It''s not the time to think about food, I can find something to eatter. But before that-''


    "System it says that I''m Rank 0 here. Tell me more about it"


    Making some quick calctions in his mind he thought that he had at least a few hours before the man standing outside came to check over.


    But not taking any chances he decided to make a n in a few minutes and escape from there.


    [Yes, as the host has not started any cultivation you are at Rank 0. While the being that you killed before was at Rank 1 in Warrior Cultivation.]


    Felix looked at the corpse of the huge man and asked again,


    "How many ranks are there in both the cultivation?"


    [ording to the information that the system can reveal at the moment. There are a total of 9 ranks in both Mage and Warrior Cultivation. With Rank 1 being the lowest and Rank 9 being the highest.]


    ''Hmm.....If this pervert was a rank 1 then the guy outside must be higher possibly Rank 2 or 3.''


    "And you said my race was human. Does that mean there other races out there?"


    [Yes, there are many races in the world that the host hase to. But it is advised that the host find the answers to the questions that are rted to the world by himself.]


    "Well thank you for not answering that then"


    Felix replied as he was still not happy when the System ''advised'' him to seek answers by himself. ncing at the status screen again, he asked again.


    "What does talent mean, and Is having two stars good or bad?"


    [Talent is a factor that determines the aptitude and capability of a person to achieve something effortlessly. Having one star means being useless in their work for their whole lifetime while having two or three stars means being average and capable enough if they spent more effort and hard work.]


    [A being with four stars is considered a genius and can excel at many things while having five stars means one in a thousand years genius with lots of potential who ends up bing someone great unless they get a quick death.]


    "Damn it so with two stars I''m just an average boy even in this world."


    Felix cursed as he felt the world hating him for some reason.


    Finally arriving at the ''state'' in the status which perfectly told the story, he moved his eyes at thest section which made him grin as a wide smile formed at his lips.


    "Now tell me how I got 10 skill points by killing that huge guy"


    [Skill points are given for killing every being with a rank higher than the host''s, which you can use to ess the Skill Board.]


    [Killing a Rank 1 will give you 10 skill points, while a Rank 2 will give you 100 skill points and it gets multiplied by 10 with every increase in Rank. But you''ll only earn skill points if you kill a being higher than your own rank. Killing a being of your same rank will not get you any skill points.]


    ''HOLY SHIT! This System really wants me to go on a killing spree.''


    Imagining himself being ''wanted'' across the countries for murder made Felix gulp at the sheer pressure.


    "O-Okay...How about you show me the Skill Board"


    [Ding!]


    [Activating the Skill Board!]


    [Skill Board]


    [Host can now use the skill points to create any skill that he desires.]


    [Current skill points: 10]


    "Any? Wow does that mean I can create any skill from anime and manga like Kameham*ha* and Raseng*n and such!!", his excitement reaching its peak.


    [Affirmative, the host can use his memory or imagination to create any skill by using the avable skill points.]


    ''Hmm let''s try it.''


    Closing his eyes and imagining how G*ku used his two hands to pull back and then shout ''KAMEHAM*HA'' before releasing the white and blue beam of light. Felix considered the skill''s strength and power, then asked.


    "System, create the skill ''Kameham*ha''"


    [Processing the skill''s power scale.....grading the skill...estimating the possible points required...skill sessfully moduled.]


    [Ding!]


    [Skill Name: Kameham*ha


    Description:


    By drawing mana in the user''s cupped hands instead of ki, it is then concentrated to the point that it is released just before the st as a powerful beam of energy explodes out from the user''s palms. The power of the skill depends on the amount of mana used.


    Cost: 100000 skill points]


    Felix stood rooted on the spot as he stared with wide eyes that the system actually created the said legendary technique. He read the name and description of the skill with heavy breaths before finally arriving at the cost of the skill.


    "ARE YOU SERIOUS!! A hundred thousand?? Why are you destroying my dreams! You hateful System!!"


    [It is advised for the host to calm down and not act crazy because of his pathetess.]


    "YESS YESS!! I''ll calm down!"


    "Huff", panting at the mere sight of the expensive skill he thought he could create.


    Felix started to calm down and after dismissing the message of the skill board, he went into deep thinking about what skill he truly needed at the moment to survive this predicament.


    ''I need something to help me escape possibly making me leave this ce as soon as possible.''


    Thinking for a few moments, somewhat hurriedly to run away from here, he spoke to the system again.


    "System try creating the skill....."

 Chapter 6: My First Skill.

    <h4>Chapter 6: My First Skill.</h4>


    "System, try creating the skill Invisibility."


    Felix said as he raised his hopes in trying to create a skill that many people of ''culture'' would wish to use for gathering some important information regarding forbidden in-depth gender interaction.


    [Processing the skill''s power scale....grading the skill....estimating the possible points required.....skill sessfully moduled.]


    [Ding!]


    [Skill Name: Invisibility


    Description:


    Allows the user from being impossible to be seen or perceived by any sight sense.


    Cost: 8000 skill points]


    "Uughh!''


    Felix groaned at how even this skill was not something he could afford at the moment.


    ''Ehh...What do to now? Maybe something like a basic stealth move would be good.''


    He tried imagining himself walking around covertly and people not looking in his direction as he walked by.


    Even though it was a bit hard to do that, he forcibly calmed his mind and made use of whatever ideas came into his mind. He finally said,


    "System, give me a skill that allows me to move around stealthily and makes my presence seem to go unnoticed"


    [Processing the skill''s power scale....grading the skill....estimating the possible points required.....skill sessfully moduled.]


    [Ding!]


    [Skill Name: ??


    Description:


    Makes your aura and sound undetectable and lowers the overall presence. Your footsteps be untraceable. The skill does not work on someone if the user is in their sight. No effect on beings two ranks higher than the user.


    Cost: 10 skill points.]


    "Hmm this...it''s not that strong but it works in my situation."


    Not wanting to waste more time in this ce, Felix asked the system to confirm this skill as the one he wanted to create.


    "System, create this skill."


    [Please name the skill before you create it.]


    ''name? well...''


    "Name the skill as ''Silent steps'', yes that seems nice."


    [Do you wish to use 10 skill points and create the skill ''Silent Steps''?]


    "Yes"


    [Ding!]


    [Sessfully created a new skill!]


    Hearing the chime from the system Felix looked around but didn''t see anything change or feel any different.


    Somewhat suspicious of having be the victim of a scam before, he asked cautiously.


    "So....how do I use the skill or am I getting scammed?"


    [The host is advised to think of doing the skill and you''ll be able to use it.]


    ''Okay let''s go.''


    Felix thought about using the skill ''Silent Steps'' as he started walking around the room and slowly but surely his steps became inaudible, as he felt like moving like a ghost even slightly increasing his speed.


    ''If I''m right and if the system is telling the truth, maybe I can use this skill to slowly walk out of this ce and run away the moment I''m far enough.''


    He took a deep breath calming his pounding heart and moved towards the door of the broken house. Slowly poking his head out of the door, his bruised eyes became blinded by sunlight as he hurriedly focused on the outside situation.


    There he saw the other man who was called ''Master'' by the pervert guy standing near the carriage still looking at his small booklet with a frown.


    Seeing that the man was busy with his work, Felix looked around the ce to get a better look at where he was.


    It looked like he was at a farm-like ce that had a few broken buildings in thepound with a slightly one-meter-tall fence that seemed too easy for robbers to climb in from surrounding the farm.


    The farm had a wooden gate that seemed to have been opened up by them.


    There was also a dpidated well in the middle, but considering the harsh sunlight it must have already dried up.


    Outside the farm, it looked to be a forest with tall unfamiliar trees on all sides.


    Felix quickly decided to make a n as he sorted out his thoughts.


    ''There''s no way I can walk right out of the gates as that guy is right beside them. So, jumping over the fence seems to be the only way I can escape from here.''


    Felix quickly made a n before thinking something as he entered back into the room and knelt beside the corpse of the huge guy.


    "You shitbag! Be proud that the great me is going to loot you now hehe."


    Giving back what the pervert had said to him, he moved his hands around the huge body searching his pockets and jacket.


    He found a wallet which he kept aside and some ID cards with the guy''s face which he threw away.


    Realizing that he couldn''t put the wallet anywhere, while the huge guy''s clothes were too big for him to fit. He took out the guy''s belt and tied it around his waist.


    ''Well before it was ropes tying me and now it''s a belt. I swear I don''t have any weird fetish of getting myself tied.''


    Tightening the belt, he looked at the knife stabbed into the chest of the guy and slowly took it out.


    ''For my safety, I better take this.''


    He took the knife and cleaned it using the guy''s jacket as he didn''t want to carry blood with him.


    After doing that he looked at the knife''s reflection but couldn''t see his face on it clearly as it was earlier sshed by blood.


    ''Wow, I look like a psycho with all the blood on.''


    Again using the guy''s jacket, he cleaned his face a bit but then decided not to waste any more time.


    He inserted the knife in the belt like how a pirate would do and took the wallet which he made the middle part of it enter the belt.


    ''Huff! All that I need to do now is to make a sessful escape and run away from here before that man realizes what''s happening andes to catch me.''


    Felix thought as his eyes became determined while calming his heart that seemed toe out of his throat.


    Taking steady steps and his hands trembling a bit as he walked towards the door, he wished himself luck.


    Now ready, he stood at the door to finally start his escape from this ce where he could have been ra*ed and possibly sacrificed in some evil ritual.

 Chapter 7: The Escape.

    <h4>Chapter 7: The Escape.</h4>


    Taking a nce at the man outside to check what he was doing, Felix again started thinking.


    ''Great! He''s looking inside the carriage with his head poked inside.''


    This was like a chance given by the heavens that he needed at the moment and he rejoiced getting a bit surprised at his finally working isekai luck.


    Not waiting anymore he hurriedly thought of using the skill ''Silent Steps'' as he made a quick run in the room to make sure it was working.


    Making sure that it was working perfectly fine, he quickly moved out of the broken house while sneakily looking at the man.


    ''Sayonara as*hole! I''ll be sure to repay what you did to me.''


    Cursing inside his head, Felix ran towards the right side from the door of the broken house that was also on the opposite side of the man as he suddenly dashed behind the building making his way over to the fence.


    Taking a bit of effort he hurriedly jumped over the fence while holding his hands that were hurting a bit from suddenly pressing his hands against the fence with too much pressure.


    It seemed he was not yet used to his new small body as moving in it felt unfamiliar and slightly abnormal. Deciding to eat a lot after escaping and training his body to be fit to survive in this harsh world, he ran taking long steps towards the forest.


    He used his injured body to its peak as he entered the forest, eyeing the tall trees around him with a curious look he ran between them making himself as far as he could from the ce.


    **********


    Twenty minutester he couldn''t help but stop himself after all the running as he sat down on the ground while grasping for breath.


    "Huff! Huff! I don''t think I-I can continue to run anymore"


    Felix gasped as he tried to catch his breath. Calming down a few minutester he thought of getting help from the system.


    "System! Do you think I''m far enough from that man? Or at least tell me where I should go next"


    [It is advised that the host seek answers by hims-]


    "Ohe on!! You stupid system! Why are you even here if you can''t help me with something", replied Felix as he angrily flipped the bird at the system.


    [Does the host wish to deactivate the System?]


    "NO! Wait- I was wrong! Don''t deactivate.", he immediately shouted afraid of losing his only way of surviving in this cruel world.


    ''Damn I ended my story before it even began'', sweated Felix as he imagined his life without his beloved system.


    [The system cannot give host any answers regarding this world or the situation you''re trapped in. The host has to find clues and find the answers yourself, so as to improve your way of handling problems.]


    "....hmm, you''re right."


    Felix pondered about it and realised that if he always depended on the system, then that wasn''t much different from the system controlling him.


    And he didn''t want that to happen, so he was quite grateful that the system wasn''t treating him like a baby by providing everything he asked for.


    Even though he was thinking positively, Felix didn''t have a clue where to go and what to do, especially considering that the ve traders maye search and find him.


    ''Sigh... why is my fate so miserable.''


    Taking deep breaths, he calmed down and surveyed his surroundings.


    Knowing that he was far away from that man, he decided to look at himself and make ns for where he had to go from here, but then he heard his stomach growl making him feel weak all of a sudden.


    ''First of all, I need to look for something to eat, I''ll be dead if I stayed in this state any longer.''


    Slowly getting up he started moving around the tree nearest to him.


    Looking up he couldn''t seem to find the sun that was ever zing earlier to be seen, now that the tall trees with their huge leaves were getting in the way.


    ''Thankfully it''s not as hot as it was before at the farm.''


    Searching around he couldn''t find any fruits hanging on the trees, even if there were some, it would be too high for him to reach.


    He saw that behind the tree some mushrooms were growing out.


    Nearing them he thought of plucking them and satisfying his hunger when suddenly he realized that there were some purple spots on them that looked horrifying enough to make babies cry.


    He hurriedly moved back at the mere sight of it.


    ''No shit that''s a straight ticket to hell!!


    Going back to where he was, he slowly started walking away from the direction of the farm as he looked around for anything to eat. His hunger not reaching the point of making him insane.


    Many things in his surrounding were foreign to him, giving him a disadvantage of not knowing what were edible and harmful, so he thought for a second and said.


    "System, can you create a skill that lets me analyze and identify all things."


    [Processing the skill''s power scale....grading the skill....estimating the possible points required.....skill sessfully moduled.]


    [Ding!]


    [Skill Name: Inspect


    Description:


    It allows the user to identify any object and find out its stats and uses.


    Cost: 500 Skill Points]


    "Hmm... five hundred huh...."


    ''It''s a skill that''s really useful, especially for someone like me for not knowing anything of this world. Too bad I can only create the skill with five hundred points when I have nothing at all.''


    He continued walking ahead, searching for any food he could find as he looked in every direction.


    The dense forest seems to be at peace as the slight chirping of the birds could be heard flying between the branches.


    It looked so unreal that Felix had to stop himself as he looked at the slight sunshine entering the forest through the leaves of the trees.


    A bit overwhelmed by the beauty of nature, something which he couldn''t enjoy in his previous life by always staying inside the busy city, he walked peacefully as if nothing was better than this.


    Finallying across a group of squirrels who were eating a bunch of berries from a bush, he quickly moved towards them.


    The small animals ran away when they saw a humane nearby.


    ''That must be edible''


    Not minding them, he took all the berries from the bush and the ground eating them the moment he picks one.


    ''Nice...It''s sour yet sweet. Reminding me of strawberries but only these are not ripe yet.''.


    Still not stopping himself even as his mouth felt a bit distasteful, he ate all the berries he could find only to find his stomach quarterly full.


    Walking ahead again from there he couldn''t help but wonder,


    ''Does this world have fruits and the foods that were back on Earth? Hmm not possible maybe they have their own culture and traditions.''


    Thinking of such random thoughts, he walked ahead when suddenly a weird noise made him stop.


    "Kwiek! Kwiek!"


    He suddenly became alert and stayed cautious as he hid behind a tree slowly looking at the thing that made those weird sounds.


    And there he saw it.


    The first monster that he encountered after his transmigration.


    ''Is that a-....Is that a-...Is that a-...''


    These were his only thoughts as he stared unbelievably at the famous fantasy creature with wide eyes almosting out of his sockets.

 Chapter 8: Past and the Monster.

    <h4>Chapter 8: Past and the Monster.</h4>


    ''Is that a Goblin!!''


    Felix hid behind a tree as he stared at the creature that didn''t exist on Earth but existed in many fantasy stories including animes and web novels that he read.


    The creature before was a short and skinny, slightly hunched-back humanoid figure.


    It had green skin, a long nose, pointed ears, a wide mouth, and small sharp fangsing out of its jaws. Its limbs were thin to the point of showing the outline of its bones.


    Felix cautiously looked at the golbin without making a noise and found out that it was using a short de-like weapon to sh a small animal that looked like a big rabbit.


    ''Is that monster hunting rabbits?''


    He tried asking the system about the monster in a low voice.


    "System can you tell me about that thing in front of me?"


    [Affirmative. The monster in question is called a Goblin and it is a Rank 1 being.]


    "Is that all you can tell to me?"


    [Host is advised to find everything out yourself.]


    "Well whatever I''ll have do it myself"


    Felix gave up trying to find out anything from the system.


    It seems he could only count on himself in this forsaken world.


    ''It said it was a Rank 1 monster so that means it could give me 10 skill points.''


    Having thought that, he made up his mind to take down the monster because only having more skill points could make him stronger and increase his chance of surviving in this foreign world.


    Thinking about fighting the monster, Felix couldn''t help but remember how he used to fight against the other kids in his neighborhood.


    It all started when he was 11 years old, the kids at the orphanage used to go out to the local yground where many children from the area came to y together.


    One day, while they were ying games at the yground, a bunch of kids around 11-13 of age started bullying a boy from his orphanage.


    Wanting to stop them from doing that, Felix and a few of his friends ran toward them to protect the boy.


    He tried making peace between them and stopping them from ever bullying that boy, but the bullies told him to mind his own business or else they''ll beat him together with the kid.


    A bit annoyed at what the kids were saying he told them that he wouldin to their parents for doing this.


    But it appeared that they did not like that idea as a kid who looked like their leader furiously punched him in the face.


    Holding the face that hurt a bit, something seemed to have made him forget all his reasons as his body trembled out of anger before he started dashing forward beating that guy without stopping, even going as far as pushing him down and raining punches on the kid''s face.


    His friends and the other kids tried to stop him but it was toote as that boy who Felix was holding under him was already bleeding in his head.


    After finally stopping the fight with the intervention of some adults at the scene, the boy was taken to the hospital while Felix was given punishment at the orphanage as even Police officers came to inquire and scold him.


    This made him have a bad history because of which he did not get adopted by anyone.


    Even the kids at the orphanage started to look at him scared faces, as they were afraid he woulde and hit them until they bled.


    They were little children, and as kids, they didn''t know how to justify a situation or find the real reason for it.


    Instead, they just believed what they saw and heard, before acting upon it.


    As the rumors of the incident went on, most of the kids started to stay away from Felix, making him a loner, at which point, anime and webnovels were his only escape from the harsh reality.


    After that incident, for a few years, Felix got into many fights with kids around his age, as even though he didn''t like it, words of his actions spread with manying to him looking for trouble.


    Seeing the never ending line of trouble children, students and delinquents that came for him, he didn''t shy away and faced them with everything he got, but every time he was stopped by the adults before it went too far.


    As it became a daily urrence, the nuns and the caretakers of the orphanage decided to give him a lengthy consultation for many days telling him that if he got into trouble again then he''ll get expelled from the orphanage.


    With no other choice, Felix had to stop his violent tendencies of getting into fights and focus on studying to make ns for his future.


    Still, feeling bound by the rules and regtions of society that made him hold back his desires, he felt it was suffocating to even live that life.


    He felt as if staying in such a peaceful world while getting knocked down by the higher-ss people and living a pathetic average life was not something that made him feel satisfied.


    That was why when he got the chance to end his life, he did not try resisting, not knowing that his fate had stored something else for him.


    Coming back to reality, Felix shook his head off his thoughts and nned on sneaking behind the goblin as the monster had his back towards him.


    He removed the knife hanging on his waist and clutched it tightly with both of his hands.


    After calming his mind, he considered.


    ''I must do it as fast as possible before the goblin notices me''


    The surroundings turned silent as the only noise that he could hear was the small growls of the goblin.


    He quickly made a n of stabbing the knife right into its neck to kill the goblin as he concentrated on using the skill ''Silent Steps''.


    Upon feeling the change as his presence dropped to increase his stealth, Felix jumped out from behind the tree and rushed at the goblin who was poking the small animal with his short de.


    As he felt the wind pressure blow against his face while he ran, Felix neared the unguarded goblin.


    When he reached around one meter away from the creature, he suddenly widened his eyes as the goblin slowly turned around coincidentally.


    The monster was dumbfounded and looked surprised at the human that magically stood behind him without his notice.


    It seemed as if time stopped for the both of them as they stood there looking into each other eyes.


    A pair of beautiful crystal red eyes stared right at another pair of dirty yellow eyes,....before chaos erupted.

 Chapter 9: Fight.

    <h4>Chapter 9: Fight.</h4>


    ''Sorry. I ain''t a killer but I need skill points.''


    Breaking away from the staring contest with the stupefied goblin, Felix sprang forward using his left leg and shed the knife right at the poor monster''s eyes by swinging his hands.


    Finding that a human was already this close without his knowledge, the goblin wanted to retaliate by raising his de, but the knife was too fast as it slit its eyes from the left side of his huge forehead and came out from the right side.


    "Krieeiewek!!"


    The monster let out a furious shriek as he felt tremendous pain that almost made him pass out and quickly raised his de to stab the hateful human. But Felix was faster, soon after shing the knife he kicked with his leg exactly on the crotch of the furious goblin.


    "Kwek!"


    The goblin let out a disgusting growl as he held his aching jewels. But before it could feel any more pain, something sharp entered its chest and made it fall to the ground.


    Laying on the floor, the goblin gradually lost consciousness.


    [Ding!]


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank]


    [You have gained 10 skill points]


    "Huff! Huff!"


    Felix squatted down on the ground breathing for air. It seemed that it was the most his body could do at the moment.


    Gazing at the goblin''s corpse right beside him, he hesitated a bit before slowly poking its arms with his finger to check whether it was still alive.


    ''It''s still warm.''


    The monster had rough skin and it did not feel good touching, so he stopped doing that.


    He couldn''t bring himself much closer to the corpse to confirm whether it died or not.


    ''Well the system already gave me the reward but I''m still a bit suspicious of it.''


    Deciding to ce his trust in the system''s ability, he smiled as he gained 10 skill points.


    "System, show me my status"


    [Affirmative.]


    [Status]


    [Name: Felix]


    [Race: Human]


    [Age: 14]


    [Sex: Male]


    [Mage Cultivation: Rank 0]


    [Warrior Cultivation: Rank 0]


    [Talent: ¡ï¡ï ]


    [State: Bruised with a weak and pathetic body]


    [Skills: Silent Steps]


    [Skill Points: 10]


    As Felix looked at the skill points that went from 0 to 10, he considered what skill he should create this time.


    "Hehehe this time I''m not forced to make a skill that means I can create whatever I can."


    Imagining lots of different skills from the animes and web novels, he had a stupid grin on his face.


    He didn''t want to create his second skill while being forced by the situation like thest time.


    With the new 10 skill points, he wondered what kind of skill he should try to create, but then something happened.


    "ROOAAR!!''


    A loud roar suddenly went throughout the forest as Felix jumped back to his feet putting on a scared expression while gazing around fearfully.


    Many birds flew out of the trees and small animals ran away as they appeared to have met their enemy hearing the monster''s roar.


    "Damnit why did I have to jynx myself."


    Wanting to cry but also not wanting to waste his time acting stupid, he removed the knife and ced it back into the belt as he started thinking.


    ''That roar was just too powerful. I don''t think that monster will be as weak as the goblin, that means running away is the only option.''


    Felix did not wait any longer as he activated his skill ''Silent Steps'' and ran along with the small animals away from the monster that had yet to show itself. The forest did not have any clear path for him to run, so he had to jump over bushes and tiny nts to not lose his momentum.


    Some timeter he turned behind to check whether the monster was in his sight.


    The monster did not seem to follow him so he rxed but continued moving forward not wanting to be around any danger.


    He only stopped when he found some berries or any fruits on nts to fill his stomach.


    Felix walked aimlessly without a specific direction as a few hours went by.


    Gradually, the sun started to go down.


    Not knowing what time it was, he wondered whether it was going to be dark soon.


    "Do I just keep walking? I don''t even know where I''m going right now..... sigh."


    A bit dejected he kicked a small stone on the ground. Staring at the rolling stone, he followed behind it to kick it again but suddenly stopped surprised.


    The stone that he kicked reached a wide path that seemed like a path for traveling.


    "Is this a road? But where does it travel to?"


    Sadly, there was no one to answer him. He had to either go left or right from there.


    ''There''s no other choice, I''ll have to go in any one direction.''


    Standing in the middle of the path as he deliberated on which direction to go, Felix found a small stick nearby.


    Picking it up, he bnced it between his finger and the ground before letting it go.


    The stick stood still for a second and then fell in a random direction.


    "And there I shall go..."


    Leaving the stick, he took quick steps in that direction as it was starting to get a bit cold and dark.


    *****


    Felix was still on the road as it became night.


    Under the three moonlights, his shadow deepened. Yes, this world had three moons.


    Looking at the dark sky adorned with twinkling bright stars and three beautiful moons, he couldn''t focus on the road and walked slowly.


    ''Wow, this is just so amazing. I bet those sky lovers back on earth would get a nose-blood staring at this scene.''''


    "growl-"


    He broke out of his thoughts hearing the pitiful sound his stomach was making.


    "Sigh...This again."


    Well, it was not the first time this happened but Felix didn''t have anything to sate his hunger.


    His body was getting tired from all the intense fighting and running and he felt like resting but his hunger did not allow him such luxury.


    So he could only limp forward to arrive at whatever was on the other side of the road.


    Suddenly he sniffed a faint sweet and aromatic smell that made his tummy tremble with joy.


    "W..What is this smell!"


    So hungry that he felt it was a dream, Felix hurriedly went toward where the smell wasing from taking quick steps.


    He saw that a bit forward on the road, there was a medium sized tent on the right side where a few people were camping out.


    They surrounded a bonfire where they were heating some meat jerkies with sauce and vegetables.


    "Oh dear, finally something to eat!"


    He gulped at the mere sight of it but stopped himself from running over and grabbing them.


    ''I''ll eat that no matter what I have to do.''


    Felix suddenly felt motivated as he nned to steal their food, without realizing that something else was lurking in the shadows as it eyed the humans.

 Chapter 10: Ambush on the Travellers.

    <h4>Chapter 10: Ambush on the Travellers.</h4>


    The people sitting around the bonfire were talking with each other waiting for the food to get cooked.


    A carriage was parked beside them with two horses resting on the ground.


    The fire brightened their surrounding as Felix could faintly make out their appearances.


    There were a total of 6 of them, three guys wearing light armor and carrying a sword on their waists, a middle-aged man in brown uniform-like clothes was dozing off leaning on a tree, and a couple wearing fancy attire who looked recently married.


    Felix was standing a bit far so he could not hear what they were talking about.


    He activated his only skill as he stealthily moved toward another tree that was near them.


    Now he could hear clearly what they were saying.


    "The journey had been long but we''re finally arriving at the next city.", said one of the three guys who looked like a guard.


    He was talking with the other two guards as they cooked their dinner.


    "Yes, we''ll reach the city by tomorrow evening.", another replied.


    The other warrior who looked like their leader reminded the two of them as he nced at the couple.


    "We can receive the reward from the guild after we sessfully escort them back, so don''t ck off or we''ll fail the task."


    "Come on Captain we can rx now, there won''t be any problems here now that we''re near to the city.", the first guy said not wanting to be always tensed.


    "Well you''re right about that but it just doesn''t feel right for me to rx on a mission."


    The two looked at each and chuckled as they remembered how a crow shat on their captain''s head when he was sleeping a few days ago.


    The Captain''s face turned red from embarrassment as he red at them.


    Felix just looked at them from the side as he mused.


    ''So there''s a city a bit away from here. That''s good, I''ll be able to hide there from that ve trader in case he''s searching for me throughout the forest. Also, he said something about a guild, I wonder if it''s the same guild from the fantasy novels.''


    He rejoiced for finally encountering some people anding to know that there was a city he could stay at.


    He curiously thought about what a guild could be.


    ''I still don''t have any ns for the future but I''ll think about them after getting to know more about this world. But before that, I need to find clothes, food, and a ce to live. I can''t always be wearing this rag.''


    Turning back to the group of people, he saw that the food was finally cooked as they passed the tes around for them to eat.


    The middle-aged man also woke up as he started joyfully blowing the hot food to cool it down.


    The couple looked at the food and sighed as they missed the food at their manor that was cooked by professional chefs.


    The man looked at his wife as she started to eat her food on a te.


    "Don''t worry about the food Jenny, after reaching home you''ll be able to enjoy whatever you want. I''ll make sure you eat well.", he said lovingly as he patted her head.


    Jenny looked back at her husband and said as she happily ate the food.


    "It''s okay Dillian, I''m fine with whatever you give me. I married you because I love you not because you''re rich."


    Dillian smiled at how sweet his wife was. He shook his head and replied.


    "I know that Jenny and also, I love you too."


    They both stared at each other and held hands, showing off their love to the other people at the camp.


    The middle-aged man didn''t mind them as he was busy eating his food but the three guards watched with nk eyes as they never experienced love, or more like no girl ever willingly talked with them.


    Felix too looked at the scene giving a sad smile as girls always used to avoid him in his previous life. Rumors about how he gets into fights made them think of him as a scary guy.


    "Rustle..rustle"


    Suddenly there came a noise from the bushes near them making them all tense up.


    The guards stopped eating and stood up cautiously from their ces, looking at the bush while holding their swords in a defensive stance.


    The middle-aged man hopped up as he anxiously grabbed a small knife from his coat, while the young couple stayed behind huddled together.


    The Captain took the lead as they slowly moved towards the bush when suddenly a huge wolf jumped out attacking them.


    It was a 1.8 m tall ck wolf with sharp fangs and had long nails on its paws, that it used tounch an attack on them.


    Felix became alert as he ced his hands on the knife looking at the monster that came out.


    ''Thank god I did not move from here and quickly activated my skill or else I would have been discovered by that monster.''


    Sighing in relief he turned back to watch as the guards got into a fight with therge wolf.


    "System, check that wolf for me."


    [That is a creature called Dark Wolf and it is a Rank 1 monster.]


    ''I expected you''ll say just that.''


    The wolf was quite cunning as it tried sneaking toward the weak couple during the fight, but the three guards did not allow it to do that.


    Surrounding the lone wolf, they attacked it one by one by performing some special movements.


    As it couldn''t win against the three humans, the wolf wanted to retreat but a sh from the captain''s sword injured its leg making it go limp.


    The guards quickly took advantage of this using their different warrior techniques and yed the wolf.


    ''That was fast, maybe they have experience doing this. Also, what did they do with the swords while fighting? It looked as if it was glowing a bit.''


    After the fight, Dillian sighed in relief as he walked to the guards who were inspecting the wolf''s corpse.


    He smiled and spoke to them.


    "Thank you for protecting us again. It would have been a lot more dangerous without you guys."


    The Captain had a serious face looking at the dark wolf before he rxed and turned behind to reply to the young man.


    "It''s alright, you do not have to thank us. We are just doing our jobs."


    While they started talking and handling the corpse, Felix''s eyes lit up as he stared at their food which they were ignoring at the moment.


    He activated his skill as he sneaked toward the nearest te of food.


    Making sure that no one seemed to notice him, he quickly picked it up and ran back again behind the tree.


    "I should probably thank the dead wolf for today''s dinner."


    He did not start eating right away but moved away from there and looked for a safe ce to sleep tonight.


    After finding arge tree that had a burrow where he could fit, Felix sat down and started wolfing down the food.


    Finishing it all, he leaned back on the tree and started to doze off.


    But suddenly, he remembered that the 6 of them were going to the city tomorrow morning.


    "Umm System, can you wake me up in the morning at around 7 am?"


    He guessed that system would not reply but it finally did.


    [...yes.]


    Felix smiled and thought that the system was actually pretty nice but just a bit shy.


    Shaking his head at the tsundere''s antics, he closed his eyes and went into a deep slumber.


    Ignoring the cold of the night, he slept peacefully under the moonlight totally tired from the whole journey.

 Chapter 11: Entering the City.

    <h4>Chapter 11: Entering the City.</h4>


    [ALERT!!... ALERT!!...ALERT!!]


    Felix jolted awake, his heart racing in response to the sudden and loud voice that broke him out of his sleep. He blinked, his eyes adjusting to the dappled sunlight filtering through the dense canopy above.


    "W-Why are you shouting!!", he asked unhappily widening his eyes.


    [Dear host, it is morning.]


    Still a bit sleepy, he snorted at the rude system that seemed to make fun of him.


    "Hmmph, you''re not nice at all."


    Getting up he stretched his body as a few popping sounds came from his body.


    "Let''s check up on what they are doing."


    Felix moved through the forest activating his skill that made him realize that he was acting like a thief. Well, because of what he didst night he was already a thief.


    The early morning felt a bit chilly as the mist seemed to cover the forest. Hidden in the shadow of a tree, he watched the group with a mixture of curiosity and envy.


    Felix''s gaze lingered on the spread of foodid out before them¡ªa hearty breakfast that looked both delicious and inviting. The sight of golden pancakes, crispy bacon, and steaming mugs of coffee filled him with a pang of hunger.


    This time he could not just go and steal their food as it would be quite suspicious so he just held back his hunger. All of a sudden, he perked up his ear hearing them speak about something.


    "HaHa captain, don''t lose your breakfast like how you lost yesterday''s dinner."


    One of the guards said holding his stomach as heughed at how their captain just seemed to always get into trouble.


    "Shut up, try eating grass for dinner once and then make fun of me."


    The captain retorted back as he cursed at his bad luck while greedily eating the breakfast. Yesterday''s events made his stomach not feel well in the morning as it growled the whole night.


    Felix sweated as their talk made him feel guilty for what he did.


    ''Sorry brother captain, but it was a choice I made for my survival. I''ll surely repay you one day for your contribution.''


    He promised himself that he would pay back the captain for stealing his food. The middle-aged man took care of the horses and prepared the carriage as they ate.


    ''So he was a driver, and those two a married couple who hired the three guards.'', he pondered as he guessed their identities.


    After eating breakfast, the group ced their packs on the carriage and set off to the city as they traveled under the shades of the forest.


    ''Atst, it''s time to get away from this forsaken ce....''


    Felix gave the forest onest deep look and followed behind them as he jumped from one shadow of the tree to the other.


    *****


    A few hourster, the group finally reached a city.


    Standing behind a tree, Felix looked ahead and stared nkly at the walls that rose from the ground reaching 20m in height.


    The walls of the city looked mighty and strong with it''s dark appearance, showing that it was capable of defending against a hoard of monsters.


    ''Who can even infiltrate the city if the walls are so high and thick...''


    Looking ahead, he saw that the group was approaching the gates of the city, where two soldiers stood checking on the travelers that wished to enter the city.


    ''I don''t think entering the city will be that easy for me.''


    Felix didn''t think that he could enter the city by just using ''Silent Steps''. He pondered for a while and made a n.


    Taking a risk, he activated his skill and ran behind the moving carriage getting near to it. When he reached behind the carriage, he quickly got under the carriage and held the lower bo of it as he stuck his body upwards.


    Holding it hurt his thin and weak arms but he tolerated it as the carriage stopped for a brief moment near the gates before finally entering the city.


    While holding onto the bo, he looked around from under the carriage and felt amazed by everything of the city in his sight.


    There were stalls selling beautiful gemstones and strange spices on the stone streets, with people haggling and discussing among themselves.


    Bright banners of different organisations ad shops danced in the air, making patterns of light and dark.


    Entertainers amazed the people with their tricks, and the smell of fresh pastries filled the air. It was a world of wonders he had never seen before.


    Back on Earth, things werepletely different. The streets were lined with buildings made of concrete and ss, with billboards and traffic lights at every corner. People hurried past each other, lost in their own world.


    Felix started enjoying his view when his arms started to feel weak. Staring around, he found an empty alley as the carriage moved.


    ''There''s my chance!''


    Waiting for the carriage to get near to the empty alley, he quickly activated his skill and slowly let go of the wooden bo of the carriage.


    Swiftly getting up, he ran into the alley as a few pedestrians were surprised at his sudden appearance. But they just minded their own business and walked away ignoring the boy.


    Running deep into the alley, Felix stopped when he felt that nobody seemed to follow him into the alley.


    "Sigh...that was stressful. Thankfully I did not alert anyone when entering the city."


    He sighed as he thought that if anybody saw him as he was now, they would think of him as a runaway ve and lock him up in their basement.


    It was already tough and dangerous for him to have escaped from the ve traders, and he was sure he wouldn''t be as lucky as he was now if he got caught again.


    Felix found a quiet spot to sit and rx, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. He leaned against the wall in the alleyway, taking a moment to soak in the tranquil surroundings.


    The gentle sound of the wind and the distant hum of the city''s activity created a soothing backdrop, and he closed his eyes, allowing his mind to wander.


    As he drifted into his thoughts, a sudden voice in the atmosphere jolted him back to the present. His eyes snapped open, and he felt a chill run down his spine. A childish voice tinged with curiosity and mischief, cut through the tranquility.


    "Hey, look over there! What''s that guy doing?"


    Felix''s gaze shifted toward the source of the voice, his eyes widening as he saw a group of five kids around the age of 12. They stood a short distance away, their fingers pointed in his direction. Their expressions were a mix of intrigue and suspicion.


    He felt a wave of self-consciousness wash over him, his previous rxation shattered by their scrutiny. He wondered if his presence had caught their attention, or if they wondered about his identity because of his clothes.


    Trying to appear nonchnt, Felix offered a friendly smile to the kids.


    "Hey what are you guys doing, nice weather today right..."


    He didn''t know what could be a nice thing to say at the moment, as it was the first time he was actually having a proper conversation with a person from this world.


    As for the talk between him and the huge pervert? He preferred that hepletely forget about it.


    The kids exchanged nces, their suspicion not entirely dissipated. One of them, a young blue-haired boy wearing a light brown vest and ck pants, ventured closer.


    "Are you from around here? You look kind of different."


    Felix wondered why they were saying that as he looked at them and asked back.


    "Different? How so?"


    The boy replied matter of factly.


    "Because it''s rare around here for someone to have silver hair and red eyes."


    Felix tilted his head as the boy''s words rang inside his mind.

 Chapter 12: The Five kids and A place to Stay.

    <h4>Chapter 12: The Five kids and A ce to Stay.</h4>


    "Silver hair and red eyes? Are you talking about me?"


    Felix asked as he touched his long hair that fell just above his eyes covering his forehead and widened his eyes hearing that.


    The boy with blue hair looked back at one of his friends and shrugged his shoulders.


    "Shaya, why don''t you give him your mirror for a bit."


    The girl named Shaya had brown hair reaching her shoulders and a small cute face. Wearing a green color gown with whitecings, she looked at Felix for some while before she handed him a mini mirror she was keeping in her pocket.


    "Here, don''t break it. It was a gift given to me by Mother."


    Felix curiously held the mirror and looked at his reflection. His silver hair had an ethereal sheen that catches and reflects even the faintest traces of light. With each movement, his hair seems to shift and dance, almost as if it possesses a life of its own.


    His pale white skin and cheeks looked a bit thin but the crimson eyes that filled his sockets were like precious rubies set within a bed of snow, his eyes shimmering with an inner fire, capturing the essence of danger and mystery.


    As he stared at his new appearance for the first time, Felix couldn''t help but want to scream out.


    ''That''s so Fucking Cool!!''


    His hand trembled as he nced at his handsome face reflected in the small mirror.


    ''If I had this face on Earth, I could have easily be a celebrity or a model. My previous average face was like a thousand times worse than this.''


    Still impressed by his beauty, he realized why that huge pervert wanted to assault him.


    ''No wonder that pedophile couldn''t hold himself back after looking at me.''


    He had a question but he shook his head and returned the mirror to the girl who was looking nkly at him.


    "Thank you. I forgot that I looked like this hehe...."


    Felix scratched his head as heughed it off. But the kids just thought that this guy must have never seen a mirror before.


    "By the way, my name is Felix. It''s nice to meet you."


    Felix gave the blue-haired boy his hand and asked for a handshake.


    The boy stared at the hand in front of him before he held it and slowly shook it. He smiled and replied back.


    "You can call me Noah, and it''s nice to meet you too."


    Noah then pointed to his other friends and introduced them,


    "The girl that you gave you the mirror is Shaya. And they are Thomas, Kevin, and Betty."


    Thomas was a dainty boy with ck hair wearing a tight white shirt and brown shorts, and Kevin was the tallest among the kids having short dark brown hair and wearing loose pants with a ck top.


    "Hello there.", said Thomas in a quiet voice, wearing a pair of sses from his pocket to take a better look at the silver-haired boy.


    Kevin on the other hand just remained silent as he gave a suspicious look to the boy who seemed too out of ce.


    Betty on the other hand was a shy girl standing behind them all as she seemed scared of Felix. She had long red hair that reached her waist and wore a pink frolic gown and white leggings.


    "So Felix, where are you nning on going?"


    Noah asked as he stared at the white rag that Felix wore. Meeting his nce, Felix tucked at his only cloth as he replied back.


    "Well, I don''t have any ce to go. In fact, I just arrived at this city and don''t know anything about it."


    He acted as if he was a traveler who came back from a journey and didn''t mention anything else.


    Noah nodded as he thought for a moment before his eyes lit up.


    "If you don''t have a ce to live then why don''t you stay at our Guild??", he naively asked Felix as he thought staying with him would be fun.


    Felix looked surprised when he heard that they came from a Guild, he curiously asked him back.


    "Guild? What is a guild, can you tell me more about it? I don''t remember many things."


    Shaya elbowed Noah as she took the initiative to speak. She folded her arms in front of her t chest and looked seriously at Felix in the eye as she told him.


    "Guilds are like private organizations created by some qualified people where people of different professionse together bing its members and do tasks and missions from which they are rewarded with money and othermodities."


    Noah nodded and added.


    "There are a lot of guilds in Edenmont City, but unlike them, our guild is a bit open-minded, and even though we are kids, they ept us as unofficial members forpleting simple tasks around the city."


    Felix heard Noah say that, as he finally came to know the name of the city to which he had traveled.


    ''Edenmont City huh....and there is not one but many guilds here.''


    He wondered as it seemed a bit different from what he had guessed. ncing at Noah who looked happy at how their guild treated them, Felix questioned him with a curious tone.


    "You said that I can join the guild,...is the requirement not very much?"


    Noah coughed embarrassingly when Felix came to know that as the other kids wryly smiled.


    "Cough..cough..that you see...Our guild is a bit you know...special as it has some circumstances that led it to be like this."


    Felix raised his brows noticing the kids that were looking away while whistling at the sky.


    ''It doesn''t matter, if they can ept me and give me a ce to stay then joining their guild does not seem that bad.''


    He ignored Noah who was showing him a guilty face and asked Shaya.


    "Is itpulsory to do the missions or do we do them whenever we want."


    Shaya, a bit taken aback by the question, thought for a moment and nodded.


    "The guild does not force us to do anything, it is our own decision when we ept the missions. Sometimes when necessary, they give exclusive missions but they are only for the official members so we don''t have to worry about it."


    Felix heaved a sigh as he did not want to get forced by them to do impossible missions.


    "Well, that''s all good then. What is the name of your guild? It must have one, right?"


    At the question, Noah hurried forward excitedly raising his hands as he spoke out.


    "Me! I will tell you."


    Looking at the blue-haired boy jumping about almost screaming. Felix chuckled before agreeing.


    "Okay then. Tell me."


    Noah took a deep breath with stars in his eyes and blurted out.


    "The name of our Guild is...."

 Chapter 13: The Guild.

    <h4>Chapter 13: The Guild.</h4>


    "The name of Our Guild is ''Twilight Chaos''!"


    Felix gulped as he felt an invisible pressure descend upon him when he heard the name of their guild.


    "Twilight Chaos...Twilight Chaos...Wow, that sounds so badass.", he spoke to himself as the name felt so cool.


    "B-Bad ass? Eeww, w-why would you say that.", the shy Betty eximed as she held her hands together while looking at Felix with disgust.


    Even Kevin and Thomas were looking at him with sickening looks.


    "No! No! What I was saying was-"


    Felix hurriedly shook his hands as he tried to correct the misunderstanding, but Noah patted him on his shoulder interrupting him.


    "Felix, it''s not good manners if you don''t clean your as-"


    Before he could add fire to the already messed up misunderstanding, Felix closed his mouth and red at him with his crimson eyes.


    "Sorry, I didn''t mean to say that. What I meant was, your guild has a nice name and it sounds really awesome."


    He said correcting their misunderstanding and everyone nodded as they understood what he meant. Shaya looked at Felix as she said to everyone.


    "Well, I think we should head back. We have yet to submit today''s mission"


    Noah finally remembered that they had to submit the mission back to the guild, and before Shaya could continue he told Felix.


    "Let''s go we''ll take you the guild. And there you can apply to be an unofficial member."


    Shaya grumbled at always annoying Noah and shook her head as he would never change his habit of interrupting others when talking.


    Not wasting any time Noah took the lead and led everyone out of the alley and started walking toward the center of the city. Felix stood out in the crowd as he only wore a piece of rag, but people did not focus too much on him as it was not a rare sight for them in such arge city.


    Felix again looked shocked at seeing the medieval setting of this world as a symphony of sounds enveloped him ¨C the cheerful haggling of merchants, the rhythmic tter of hooves as fantastical creatures pull carriages, and the variety of garments that only existed in fantasy games.


    But he knew that it was all real and there existed dangers beyond his powers that he needed to avoid at the moment. Gaining information was the most basic rule for a king to conquer. And that is what he did.


    While they were walking he tried asking Noah more about this world in an indirect way.


    "Hey Noah, do you go to other cities while doing missions or do you just do it here?"


    Leading them, Noah didn''t mind the question as he replied back,


    "The unofficial members do not get missions that need to go outside the city. So we always stay inside here. But the official members do frequently travel to different cities toplete their missions."


    Felix deliberated for a second before he asked again.


    "What kind of cities do the official members go to?"


    He asked nonchntly staring at the buildings that were made of brown and red stones. He did not want them to feel his curiosity and just wanted them to feel it as pass time talk.


    "Well, they go to many cities but I don''t know much as I never talked with an official member that much. They rarely talk about their missions as it can lead to the spread of our information to the enemy guilds."


    Noah said unhappily as he did not seem to like that some guild had a beef with them.


    "If you want to know more, then you can ask the receptionist, she''s a good person and will help you with your application and your stay."


    Felix nodded and felt like he should not ask more as it would look suspicious. The group walked for 15 minutes traveling inside the city as they crossed many streets and stores.


    "Here Felix! This is our Guild!"


    Noah said as they finally reached their destination.


    Felix looked at him pointing at a building in front of them. The building was seven floors tall with ck stoned walls and gothic-styled windows. The gates had demonic symbols on them that felt scary to look.


    With pointed corners at the walls of every floor, it had a menacing aura that kept pedestrians froming near it. Even the sky above it felt a bit dark as the building towered above many buildings around the surroundings which were only about two or three floors tall.


    "*Gulp*, Guys are you sure we''re at the right ce?"


    Felix couldn''t help but ask them as he looked at the building which gave him a chill in his spine. His subconscious mind did not want him to enter that building making it dangerous and terrifying to even think about the appearance of the building.


    "Of course, we''re at the right ce. Don''t mind the scary feeling, it''s not that bad when you enter it."


    Noah smiled at the boy who acted just like them when they first entered the guild. The others were also grinning as they remembered their first time here.


    "I don''t think I can go th-"


    He tried refusing but Noah and Shaya held his arms and pulled him while mischievously smirking at his nervous expression.


    The other three shrugged at their behavior. Thomas adjusted his sses acting like a senior and spoke to Kevin and Betty.


    "I wonder how the face of this boy changes when he understands the truth of this dark world andes to know the secrets held within."


    Kevin ignored his chunibyuu friend as he shook his head and followed the others with Betty, leaving him behind.


    "W-Wait guys...It was necessary for me to act like that.."


    Thomas cried as he hurriedly followed them as they all walked into the gates of the guild that automatically opened weing them in.


    The gate then closed by itself as the kids went inside the building which seemed to grow darker and darker with the setting sun.


    The eerie gothic structure stood tall in the dying light, an amalgamation of stone and shadow that seemed to breathe a life of its own.


    Bathed in the final vestiges of daylight, the building took on an even more sinister aspect, an embodiment of the macabre that sent shivers down the spines of those who dared to gaze upon it.


    And this is where Felix came into contact with one of the many forces that governed and ruled the world, the Guilds.

 Chapter 14: The Receptionist.

    <h4>Chapter 14: The Receptionist.</h4>


    Felix along with the others stood nervously in front of the door of the guild. The door was ck in color with red demonic engravings reaching close to 3 meters above the ground. It looked suffocating standing there as if being looked at by evil devils.


    ''Did I make the wrong decisioning here?''


    He did not think it was a great idea to enter the building but the blue-haired Noah did not seem to notice his plight as he took a card out of his pocket and pressed it onto a drawing in the middle of the door that looked like an evil eye.


    "Okay, and here we go!"


    The drawing made Felix feel like a devil was peeking at him from inside, making him shiver at the mere sight of it. After Noah showed his card, the door glowed reddish around the engravings before it slowly opened.


    Felix widened his eyes as the door opened, revealing a hall with many empty sofas at the right and a reception area on the left with someone sitting behind.


    The hall appeared like it was well-maintained with lots of unique paintings hanging on the white wall and a magnificent golden chandelier on the ceiling. There was a big board pinned with many papers and notes on it beside the reception area.


    The floor was made from what looked like ck marble and had an elegant feel to it. Straight ahead of the door around ten meters away, there were stairs that led to the second floor. Overall, it seemed that the person who designed the hall had a dark and gothic sense of style.


    "Beautiful...."


    Felix blurted out absently as he stared around the hall which was not something that an ordinary person would ever see in their life. He had never seen something like this even on Earth, maybe only thoserge castles of some royal families would look simr.


    "Come here Felix, I''ll introduce you to the receptionist."


    Noah went ahead to talk with the receptionist. They seemed pretty close to her as she smiled happily and stood up when they came inside.


    The receptionist was a mature-looking woman wearing a dark red robe over her curvaceous body with shining ck earrings that enchanted her looks. Standing straight at 1.65m tall height, she had her blond hair tied in a ponytail and her flirty blue eyes seemed to want to make fun of little kids.


    "Miss Elsa, we brought a new member for the guild. Oh and also here to submit our mission."


    Noah smiled as he pointed at Felix who was standing there nervously. Hearing Noah call him, he looked at the receptionist and greeted her.


    "Ah! Hello there. My name is Felix and I wish to...join the guild?"


    Felix said unsurely as he was not yet ready to join something that he had no idea of, but he also had nowhere else to go that was why he decided toe here.


    Miss Elsa seemed to have noticed his obvious intentions as she smiled at the boy and spoke with her alluring voice.


    "Nice to meet you, Felix. My name is Elsa and I''m the receptionist of the Twilight Chaos Guild. You must have some difficulties in joining the guild right? It''s not a problem, we can sit in the lounge and discuss it. But before that, let me submit their mission."


    Felix just nodded at her and went to sit on the sofa per her instruction. He rxed leaning back on the sofa as it felt nice andforting for his tired body. He looked back at the kids and Miss Elsa who were working on submitting their mission.


    ''What should I do now? Joining and staying here is not a bad idea but I don''t know anything about them. Well, considering that Noah and the kids can be their unofficial members, means their work or should I say missions must be not anything dangerous.''


    ''Is there no other way? If only I had some basic knowledge of this world....sigh.''


    Felix sighed as he closed his eyes and rested his headfortably on the sofa. Suddenly he opened his eyes as he remembered what his quirky System could do.


    ''Wait! I could create a skill for knowing more about this world.''


    As he was in the city right now, the chances of getting into something dangerous seemed low. That made him think of creating a skill to help him with knowing more about this world.


    Like finding water in a desert, he felt happy knowing he had what many did not, a System!


    He turned to the side and looked at the others. Seeing that they were talking and not watching him, he softly asked the system.


    "Hey System, do you have any idea for a skill that could help me with getting some information about this world?"


    [Host is Host and System is System. Imagining a skill is your job and creating them for you is mine. So it is advised for the host to-]


    "OKAY! OKAY! I UNDERSTAND!"


    Felix shouted out loud without thinking as he was getting tired from the system by now.


    But then he remembered he wasn''t in the forest anymore, and there were others present here.


    "Hey Felix, are you alright?"


    He jumped up at Noah''s question and turned around, only to see that all of them were looking at him with pity and sympathy in their eyes.


    His face turned red as he realized that his shout must have made him look like a madman to them.


    "Ah don''t worry guys. I''m alright, you guys can carry on."


    He shook his hands at them as he smiled awkwardly, making it the second time for him to act weird in front of the kids. They just nodded and went back to discuss their work.


    Felix sighed in relief and quietly cursed the system in his head.


    ''This bastard of a system. Why does it always make trouble for me? Was it made to kill me or to help me?''


    [First of all, the system cannot be a bastard.]


    ''What the hell'', he jumped up again when a voice spoke in his mind but stopped himself from shouting. Then he realized that it was the voice of the system.


    ''You...You can speak in my mind? Wait more than that, you can hear my thoughts?''


    [Affirmative. I never made trouble for the host. It was the host himself who acted crazy at serious times. And yes, I''m here to help you and not...kill you]


    Felix shivered at the end of the sentence, but he shook his head and asked the system again.


    ''Wait. If you can speak in my mind then why didn''t you tell me about it before?''


    [The host never asked.]


    ''Sigh...there''s no way I can depend on you from now on'', shaking his head, Felix cleared his thoughts and again leaned back on the sofa as his muscles rxed


    His internal mind wasn''t working right at the moment because of the intense situations that kept happening one after the other, especially when his previous life was mundane and boring to the point of calling it ''grey''.


    ''If I can''t ask the system, then I''ll have to create something myself.''


    Felix closed his eyes as he started imagining any skill by remembering many anime and manga that could help him at the moment.


    ''Hmmm...What should I create?''


    He sank into deep thought as nothing seemed toe inside his mind that could potentially let him know more about the world.


    ''Even if there is a skill that could do that, it''s not something my 10 skill points could afford. That means I''ll have to think of a simple skill and not something grand.''


    ''Think...think...think''


    Holding his head, Felix groaned as he tried really hard to think.


    ''wait, I think this may be possible. Let''s try...''


    Almost giving up, he asked the system.


    ''System, create the skill.."

 Chapter 15: New Skill and Information.

    <h4>Chapter 15: New Skill and Information.</h4>


    ''System, create the skill shback.''


    Felix hopefully asked the system after he imagined the uses and the applications of the skill.


    [Processing the skill''s power scale....grading the skill....estimating the possible points required.....skill sessfully moduled.]


    [Ding!]


    [Skill Name: shback


    Description:


    Lets the user see and hear into the past by touching a person or an object.


    Cost: 300 skill points]


    ''Damn as I guessed it''s not something I can create at the moment.''


    Felix grimaced at having only 10 skill points. He looked around trying to find a solution before curiously asking the system.


    ''System, for this skill, can I reduce the skill points by adding limitations and specific rules?''


    [Yes, the host is allowed to change the description as he wishes. Later, the system will grade it and give it a price.]


    ''If that''s so, then...''


    He thought again for a few seconds and changed the description.


    ''Add a limit so that the skill can only be used once on something and only one minute of the past is shown from a specific moment. How much will that reduce the skill points?''


    [Processing the skill''s power scale....grading the skill....estimating the possible points required.....skill sessfully moduled.]


    [Cost: 40 skill points.]


    ''Nice, now one more limit. Hmm, yes. Remove the ability of ''sight'', only hearing it is enough. Show me the skill now.''


    [Ding!]


    [Skill Name: shback


    Description:


    Lets the user hear the past of any person or an object after touching them. The skill''s duration is 1 minute for the part of the past that the user desires to hear and it can only be used once on anything.


    Cost: 10 skill points]


    [Do you wish to use 10 skill points and create the skill ''shback''?]


    ''Is there a need to ask? Of course yes!''


    [Ding!]


    [Sessfully created a new skill.]


    After finally creating the skill, Felix closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and ced his hand on the sofa he was sitting on. He considered what kind of past he wanted to hear before calling out.


    "shback."


    After activating the skill, he felt his mind buzzing like that of a static television sound.


    "Bzzzzzzzz...bzzzzzzzz...bzzzzzzz"


    Slowly, the sound died down and he could hear faint voices inside his head.


    "We canplete this mission. It''s rtively easier than most of them as we only need to visit two cities in the Seph Kingdom.", a deep voice said.


    Another voice that seemed energetic sounded replying to the first voice.


    "You''re right. The Seph Kingdom is about 6 days of travel away on the east from our Drakovia Kingdom and considering we''re at Edenmont City, located in the eastern part, it''ll take us around 2 and half a day of travel using a carriage."


    The deep voice that seemed to be the leader of the squad sounded again.


    "Among the four of us, you three are Rank 1 warriors while I am a Rank 2 warrior which is sufficient for us toplete the mission."


    "All we gotta take care of is to hide our identities when doing the mission and not alert the other guilds from the great cities."


    The other three murmured in response as they seem to agree with what their leader said.


    The voices then stopped as Felix opened his eyes and grinned as the skill worked just like he wanted it to.


    ''So this the Drakovia Kingdom and there''s another called Seph Kingdom on the east side. Hmmm, and Edenmont City seems to be located on the eastern side of the kingdom. But what does he mean by the great cities?''


    Still having many questions, Felix sneakily looked at the others before slowly sitting on the sofa behind him. He needed more information about what the great cities were. So, cing his hand on the sofa, he again activated the skill and heard a different conversation this time.


    Opening his eyes, he nodded at the information that he got for the second time.


    ''So, when the number of strong guilds in a ce reaches a certain threshold, that ce will be called A Great City. And in this kingdom, there are altogether 9 Great Cities including Edenmont City. Other ces are called just towns and viges as they have less influence and strengthpared to these cities.''


    Felix ced his finger on his chin as he wondered.


    ''But what makes them so special is that there seems to be a Chamber of Guilds in every Great City where the leaders of the top 10 guilds rule and make thews and regtions rting to the guilds matters.''


    ''In Edenmont City, Twilight Chaos Guild stands at the top 5 among all the 24 guilds present here. With both allies and enemies among the guilds, it has a decent reputation in the City.''


    ''8 of the Great Cities have a Duke of this kingdom keeping a watch over it while the strongest of the cities, which is The Royal Capital has the King himself.''


    Felix organized all this information in his mind as he finally came to know more about this world. Even though he couldn''t get much information about the outside of the kingdom, it was enough for him at the moment.


    "My my, you seem to enjoying your time here..."


    Felix got surprised at the alluring voice that made him break out of his thoughts. Looking up, he saw that Miss Elsa was looking at him with her flirty eyes giving a mischievous smile, which couldn''t help but make him blush.


    "Oh, M-Miss Elsa, how are you doing?", he blurted out slightly nervous looking at the beautiful yet seductive receptionist that seemed to like making kids embarrassed.


    "I''m doing fine Felix, thank you for asking", she chuckled seeing his shy expression, and asked back.


    "Let''s get to the point and discuss the matter of you joining the guild, shall we?"


    Felix looked back at Noah and the others and saw them giving him a thumbs-up while grinning, he smiled at them and waved his hand. Turning back to the receptionist he took a deep breath and nodded at her question.


    "Yes, Miss Elsa. Please let me join this guild!"

 Chapter 16: Joining a Guild.

    <h4>Chapter 16: Joining a Guild.</h4>


    The receptionist smiled at the enthusiastic silver-haired boy, she pointed to the reception desk and asked Felix to follow her.


    "How about we go there and fill out your application form."


    Saying that she went to her desk and sat on the chair. Felix naturally followed her and stood in front of the wooden desk before Noah came beside him.


    "Hey Felix, good luck there. Now that we havepleted our mission and it''s already getting dark outside, we''ll be going home. We''ll see you tomorrow.


    "Thank you, Noah. Be careful on your way home and also, see you tomorrow."


    Felix smiled as he waved at Noah and the others who were leaving the guild. They too wished him luck and said their farewell and left the hall.


    Now it was only him with the receptionist in the guild''s hall. He looked at the blonde mature woman and felt that she looked like a celebrity starring in many movies.


    Her serious face when she was handling her work and the swift movement of her body as she did her job made Felix stare nkly at her.


    "Seen enough?"


    She suddenly raised her eyes and looked at the stupefied crimson eyes at her abrupt question.


    "O-Oh sorry, I just...uh was not. I mean..."


    Miss Elsa giggled at his antics and raised her hand pointing her finger at him in a cute manner as she reprimanded him.


    "Boy, it''s rude to notpliment ady after you''ve taken a good look at her."


    Felix almost choked at her advice as he blushingly scratched his head and replied.


    "Really? Then, Miss Elsa, you''re the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life. Is that fine?"


    She raised her brows at the boy who said that matter-of-factly without any lie or hidden intentions. Thinking that this boy was honest and not like the others, she nodded inside her head as she smiled sweetly at him.


    "Thank you, Felix. It makes me happy that you wholeheartedlyplimented me."


    Elsa thanked him as she held a pen and started writing something on a form paper.


    "Okay, so we''ll start with your name and age. Is your name only Felix or do you have a surname? Also, do you have any guardians that can vouch for you?"


    Felix did not have to think much as he honestly replied.


    "Yes. I am an orphan so my name is only Felix. As for my age, it''s...14."


    The receptionist stopped her hand as she raised her head to look at the boy with pity and sighed as she shook her head.


    ''Sigh, no wonder he is wearing a rag and appears scrawny with no muscles on him. Even though he is 14, he looks like a 10-year-old.''


    Felix noticed her reaction but kept quiet as he slightly pulled at the rag.


    ''Will they not ept me for being a ve or am I getting her sympathy? If it''s thetter then I can use it to advantage.''


    He then looked at the receptionist with his ruby red eyes almost having tears in them as he pleaded with her in a cute voice.


    "Miss Elsa, I don''t have anyone to take care of me and a ce to stay, I have also not eaten anything for the past few days. I''m willing to do any work, so please let me in the guild."


    The receptionist of the guild looked at the boy trying his best to join the guild that many were thinking of leaving, because of their member''s entric nature. She tilted her head as she remembered what their leader has asked of her.


    Smiling with a beautiful grin that could make flowers bloom, Elsa stood up and ced her hand on the boy''s silver hair and ruffled it, making him close his eyes joyfully, pretending to be cute.


    "Felix, it''s alright now. The guild doesn''t care where you''re from or what you have, as it is in need of many members for...several reasons."


    "That is why you can easily join and stay at this ce. As you do not have anywhere to go, you''ll also be given a small room on the second floor that is also the living quarters."


    She exined as she went back to sit on her chair and continued writing on the form.


    "Next. Do you have any prior training or experience inbat?"


    "I have never done any of those."


    Felix didn''t lie as he really did not have any experience in this world.


    Well, the fights of his previous did not matter as it was just child''s ypared to the cruelty of this world. In any case, an orphan withbat skiils would just make them suspicious.


    ''Maybe my chances of getting into some missions may be decreased if I don''t have experience withbat but it doesn''t matter now. I''m only starting as an unofficial member anyway.''


    Elsa asked some more questions that Felix answered in an appropriate manner without making it look like he was lying.


    After the end of her questions, she handed him a contract paper and told him to read the Guild''s rules and regtions.


    "Make sure you read everything on the contract to have a better idea of what it means to be an unofficial member of the Guild, and then sign at the end of the page."


    Felix took the paper and started reading everything.


    ''It seems to tell that I can leave whenever I wish to. And I have to do two missions every week and pay for the cost of staying in the living quarters. Other rules are also not that bad.''


    Having no problem with the contract, he took a pen from the desk and signed it.


    "Whoosh!"


    Right after signing it, the contract started floating up and dispersed into tiny ck particles before going inside a ck orb on the desk and a small part of it touched his hand.


    Felix anxiously looked at his hand after witnessing the magical scene. His hand appeared to be fine but there was a symbol of an evil eye on the back of his palm glowing a bit red eerily.


    "W-What was that? Is that anything dangerous?"


    He couldn''t help but ask Miss Elsa who looked amused at his reaction as she intently looked at him, slightly biting her lips.


    ''This boy really is different, how can he act so cute even when he is just shouting.''


    She looked at the boy who was rubbing his hand trying to remove the symbol not knowing that he was just acting cute to impress her.


    "It''s alright, Felix. That is the mark of recognition that members of the guild get after joining the guild. It won''t affect you in any way and it will go away after some time not to appear again."


    "Also, take this card. It is used when going inside and outside the Guild Building. You can also use it as an identity card in the City if you do not have any other."


    Felix sighed in relief knowing it won''t have any weird effect on him.


    He received the card and held it in his hand. It was white in color with the same symbol of the evil eye on one side and his identity details on the other side.


    "Growl"


    Hearing the sound from his stomach, he put his hand on his tummy and requested the receptionist.


    "Miss Elsa, do you have anything to eat? I don''t think I can handle my hunger anymore."


    She smiled and got up from the desk, leading him toward the stairs.


    "Let''s go. I''ll lead you around the ce and show you your room as well as the dining hall and other facilities."


    As Felix followed her to the stairs, she suddenly stopped on the first step and turned around grinning at him.


    "Oh, I forgot to tell you this..."


    He raised his head and stared at her as she looked breathtakingly beautiful at that angle as the golden rays of the chandelier shined on her white and glossy skin.


    The blood-red carpet on the ck stairs in her background gave her curvy body a slightly evil disposition. She raised her red lips at the corners as she gave a grin that could make babies stop crying in fear, and said.


    "Wee to the Twilight Chaos Guild!"

 Chapter 17: New Room and A clue.

    <h4>Chapter 17: New Room and A clue.</h4>


    Following behind the now calm receptionist to the second floor, Felix couldn''t help but remember her devil-like grin that made him feel a shiver run down his spine.


    At that moment, he could only give her a small nod and act scared forgetting his n of pretending to be cute.


    ''Holy shi*, what did I get myself into? Is she really a human and not a devil in a human''s skin?''


    Felix really regretted it, thinking about whether it was the right decision to have joined the guild. There was no way a receptionist would act like that.


    ''Was she just trying to scare me? Or did she get to know that I was pretending to be cute? No way she''ll eat me now, right?''


    He took nervous steps following her as they arrived at the second floor. Elsa ignored his fearful expression as she turned to him and stated.


    "On the first floor, there was the hall with lounge and reception with some storage rooms in the corner. The second floor is the living quarters with the dining hall. The third floor is for official members only and off-limits for unofficial members, if you''re seen there you''ll have to face punishment."


    She gave him a serious face as she continued.


    "Moving up, every floor is unavable for you. So, there''s no need for any unnecessary details of them."


    "Come here, I''ll take you to your room. You can have food at the dining hall after this."


    That being said, she walked deeper into the second floor and took a left turn, entering a wide corridor with many doors on the sides. After walking for a few seconds they stopped in front of a door with the number ''132''.


    "Here, this is the key to your room. Don''t lose it or you''ll have to pay a fine for that. You don''t seem to have any other clothes so I''ll inform a worker to bring you some."


    Elsa took a key out of nowhere a gave it to Felix who looked at his cloth that was just a rag and couldn''t help but thank her.


    "Thank you, Miss Elsa."


    She shook her head as she replied.


    "Don''t worry, we''ll cut the reward of your first mission in exchange for this. Also, the dining hall has breakfast, lunch, and dinner free for everyone. You''ll have to pay for anything extra you''d like to eat."


    He widened his eyes at the treatment he was getting.


    ''Really? Not even free clothes? Whatever, atleast they give food.''


    "Well then, my job here is done. Enjoy your stay, Felix."


    She smiled sweetly as she went back to her work, swaying her hips as she hopped a little and left Felix alone in the corridor.


    ''This woman... I can''t seem to understand her. Was she acting earlier or is that how she usually is.''


    Felix shook his head as it was not that important. He would know everything as time went by. He inserted and turned the key in the keyhole and opened the door to his new room ''132''.


    Entering inside, he carefully locked the door and gazed around the room. There was a small single bed at the left corner along with a window above the bed having brown curtains.


    On the right side, there was a desk along with a closet. There was a door on the right wall leading to a washroom with a bathtub.


    "Hmm, it''s not bad. A lot better actually than what I expected."


    *Knock* *Knock*


    "Room Service."


    A robotic voice sounded outside the door. Felix turned the key and opened the door, as a man wearing a white and ck uniform gave him a packet and went back.


    Not wasting any time, he quickly locked the door and removed the rag he was wearing. Opening the door of the washroom, he turned on the hot water andy down inside the tub.


    "Sigh...this is what I call life."


    Rxing in the hot water, he washed his body and hair even though he still had many wounds on his naked body. Looking down at his lower waist, he grinned at the length of his little brother.


    "Woah, it has nice potential there.", he touched his tower as he felt it was bigger than the one in his previous life. Not wanting to awake the dragon he pulled back his hands and just stared at it.


    ''Just looking at it makes me have no regrets about being reincarnated in this body.''


    After five minutes of bath, he came outside and wore his new clothes. It consisted of a brown shirt and dark blue pants with a ck belt. Just something simple but still better than a rag. There were two other sets in the packet which he kept in the closet.


    "Let''s go the dining hall, or else I''ll pass out anytime now."


    Felix did not have a watch so he couldn''t tell time but his hunger made him just move to where food would be.


    Coming out of the room, he locked the door and started walking toward the dining hall. Instead of taking a right which led to the stairs, he went ahead crossing many rooms and stood in front of a double door that had ''dining hall'' written on it.


    He pushed the doors open and peered at the dining hall. There were tables and chairs on the left side with some people having dinner there. On the right side, there was a buffet where you could take anything you wanted to eat.


    Felix quickly entered, took a te and started filling it with many things. After making sure he had taken a piece of every food, that he didn''t even know the name of, he walked toward an empty table and sat there.


    "Gulp, time to dig in."


    Nothing could stop him from gobbling up the food as he started eating in a crazy manner.


    Some people looked at him in amusement at how he was acting but he didn''t mind them as his only thoughts were to eat as much as he could to improve the state of his body.


    After finishing everything on the table, he gave a burp and drank a ss of fresh juice.


    "Haa that felt good. Nothing beats a te full of food."


    Sighing in contentment, Felix went out of the dining hall picking his teeths, and entered back in his room.


    Making sure that he locked the door, hey on the bed as he called out to the system.


    "System, show me my status."


    [Status]


    [Name: Felix]


    [Race: Human]


    [Age: 14]


    [Mage Cultivation: Rank 0]


    [Warrior Cultivation: Rank 0]


    [Talent: ¡ï¡ï ]


    [State: Body is in the process of healing and recovering.]


    [Skills: Silent Steps, shback.]


    [Skill Points: o]


    "Starting tomorrow, I''ll have to do missions and get to know more about this world. Also, I have to make some money for staying here and pay for my expenses"


    ''Hmm...wait did I not have that guy''s wallet with me?''


    Recalling the wallet of the huge guy, he suddenly got up and looked at the rag in the corner. He put the knife on the desk and took out the wallet from his rag.


    ''There''s nothing here except some papers and waste. That poor bastard had nothing on him. Sigh.''


    Throwing the wallet into a corner, he walked back to the bed when suddenly an idea hit him.


    ''It''s worth a try.''


    Going back and bending down to take the wallet, he held it in his hand and sat back on the bed. He took a deep breath and stared at the wallet before whispering.


    "shback."

 Chapter 18: The Imminent Chaos.

    <h4>Chapter 18: The Imminent Chaos.</h4>


    "Bzzzzzzzzz.....Bzzzzzzzz...Bzzzzzzzzz."


    Came the static noise of a broken television for a few seconds before it died, and faint voices could be heard.


    "...this one and that one. Yes, thank you."


    The voice of the huge guy could be heard as he seemed to be haggling with a street vendor.


    "Hurry up, you idiot. Did you think I hired you to waste my time?"


    A stern voice sounded that seemed to make a fuss about taking this guy to do his job.


    "Y-Yes Master, I''ming, just that these toys were not that bad so..."


    His voice trailed silently as he gulped in fear at whatever his Master did there.


    "Don''t make me repeat myself, the people of the dark guilds don''t care about people''s lives. So, if you make any mistakes, be ready to face something you would never wish to."


    "I-I understand."


    The huge guy''s head must have been faced downwards as he spoke with a scared voice not disturbing his Master again.


    "Let''s go, we need to find someone before moving to the meet-up ce forpleting the deal."


    "I don''t want to fail this mission as it can greatly help me in...."


    The voices died down there as Felix opened his eyes and stared intently at the wallet in his hand. His red eyes were tinged with hatred from hearing their voices again, but he took a deep breath, rxed, and calmed down.


    "Those bastards...Sigh I didn''t get much out of them, but this is still fine."


    He didn''t think that the information was less as he knew beforehand that using shback on a thing was random of his desired wish.


    If he wanted to hear the past of something and wishes for it, the sounds are what he wants to hear but it can also be something that is of not much use.


    ''The only thing of importance from their conversation I heard was about the ''dark guilds''. What are they? Some Gangs? Criminals? Most likely something simr to those. I need to find more about them and remain hidden.''


    ''The next thing was that gray-haired man''s mission. It seems that he had gotten a mission from somewhere to deliver a sacrifice to the people of dark guilds and I.....was chosen as the pig.''


    Felix gnashed his teeth in anger as he felt like tossing them in magma and roasting their dicks* with charcoals. His wrath made his crimson eyes give a slight glow as the decreasing sunlight from outside the window seem to fall on his silver hair, shining it.


    Shaking his head, he tossed the wallet on the desk andid his head on the soft cushion of the bed. Giving his body a stretch, he started dozing off as he had ast thought.


    ''I''ll find out about everythingter and make sure that bastard pays for making me go through hell. But right now, I''ll go to sleep and recover my body.''


    Closing his eyes, Felix swore to himself as he fell asleep on a bed for the first time after transmigration. Deep snores could be heard as he already reached dreand with a dead tired body on the bed.


    *****


    Edenmont City.


    The seventh floor of the Twilight Chaos Guild.


    In a dark room that had a few dark crystals emitting light, a tall man with long ck hair that reached his waist was standing in front of arge gridded window. He wore a tight robe over his sturdy body that gave his already strong muscles a firm shape.


    His face had a long and thin scar that looked like it was carved with a sword across the right side of his face. His lips raised in an arrogant manner as his blue eyes peered through the windows from the tall building of the guild looking over the City.


    "Things have calmed down a bit, but the other guilds have not epted my proposal yet. It seems I have to show them what it means to oppose my Twilight Chaos Guild."


    The man spoke with a cold voice as he grinned looking over the dark city that was going to sleep, and rubbed the ring on his finger which gave a bright light on his hand.


    A small white orb materialized from the light in his hand to which he gave an incantation, the orb then started turning from white to ck as a voice came out of it.


    "Please give us your orders, Guild Master.", requested a burly voice that appeared to be desperately wanting to create more trouble and destruction.


    "Make your preparations and remain on standby. The moment I give you the signal, that is when you all will break hell loose in the City."


    The man spoke with a cold voice as he gave a demonic grin and turned off themunication orb.


    Turning back to his office, he went and sat on a cool and dark sofa that was behind his table as he stared at the only thing on his desk.


    A Letter.


    The white letter looked beautiful with golden inscriptions on it that glowed under the faint light of the room''s dark crystals. It looked quite otherwordly in contrast to the dark desk and room as it faintly emitted a strong presence.


    He took the letter and read through it again like he did many times before. Putting it back on the table, he leaned back on the sofa and heaved a sigh.


    "Sigh...Now what am I gonna do with this? Did he forget that I''m not interested in such things?"


    Shaking his head at the proposition given to him by the person he always wanted to surpass and keep up with. He spoke with a resigned expression.


    "He is just giving me more work than I already have, but I can''t just ignore him, that''s why I asked Elsa to take care of it."


    Giving away all his work to his subordinates, which he always did was the reason he rarely left the seventh floor. So, most of the people in Edenmont City had never seen the mysterious leader of the Twilight Chaos Guild.


    Opening his drawer, he took out a file and checked today''s report given by the receptionist.


    "Hmmm. It seems we got a new member today. So far so good, but I wonder how the fate of this city will change in a few months."


    He smirked at the thought of his guild creating and spreading chaos in the ever-peaceful City.


    "It''s time we make a change for good. As nothingsts forever."


    The Guild Master of the Twilight Chaos grinned evilly like an old demon, as he sped his hands together near his chin.

 Chapter 19: Mission Scrolls and Currency.

    <h4>Chapter 19: Mission Scrolls and Currency.</h4>


    "Yawwnn.."


    Felix sat on his bed stretching his body, as the early sunrays of the morning peeked into his room. He thought of what happened in thest few days and smiled.


    ''It was nervewracking at first when I got suddenly turned into a ve, but now it''s all good with a ce a stay and a guild with my backing.''


    The only thing that terrified most of the people was being caught in something unprepared, having no clue as to what they had to do. With choices that seemed very hard to tread upon, most of them get destroyed.


    But there are those who, even in the most difficult of situations, try to remain calm and analyze their behavior, situation and predict the future. These people are called by many as ''cunning''.


    Felix got up from the bed and entered the washroom. Taking a small shower and brushing his teeth, he wore his clothes and opened the door to go outside.


    "Hey, hurry up. We can''t bete or else we''re gonna lose all the credit for the mission."


    An anxious voice sounded as Felix came out of his room and nced at the two boys standing outside another room. They seem to wait for another person inside the room who just woke up and was getting ready.


    "Wait a moment guys. I''ll be done right now."


    The person inside the room spoke without any worry as he changed his clothes and prepared to go out.


    Felix didn''t mind them as he walked to the side and went passed them.


    "Hey, you!"


    He stopped as he felt a hand on his left shoulder and turned to look at the person. It was a boy who looked like a 18-year-old with curly brown hair and narrowed ck eyes eyes.


    "Who are you?"


    Felix tilted his head and blinked at the question, he felt slightly annoyed when someone was stopping him from going to the dining hall to eat his breakfast. So he replied back,


    "I don''t have time for your questions."


    Stating that, he jerked off the hand on his shoulder and started walking towards the dining hall.


    The boy froze as his hands remained in the air before ncing at his partner who was holding back hisughter.


    "Pff...pfff. You got rejected....hahaha"


    Laughed the other guy with dark green hair and a small face, as he held his stomach tightly and leaned on the wall.


    The boy with curly brown hair got angered as he kicked his friend''s leg.


    "Shut up! Hmmph that was pretty rude, if it wasn''t for the rules in the guild, I would have hit him right on his face."


    "Yeah Yeah, of course you would. As that is the only thing you do. "


    The dark green-haired boy retorted as he shook his head at his friend''s impulsiveness.


    Felix ignored their chatter as he was too hungry for breakfast. It seemed that after getting reincarnated into this body, his hunger reached another level considering that the boy hardly ate anything in the slums.


    Arriving inside the dining hall, he took the breakfast to a table and ate it joyfully. No matter what, food always made him forget his worries.


    Coming out from the dining hall, he walked downstairs and arrived on the first floor. There seemed to be some people here and there, talking and nning, but they made sure to not disturb others and used a small voice.


    Felix came to the reception desk and saw that Miss Elsa was sitting on a chair doing her work.


    "Miss Elsa, I''m here to do my first mission."


    He called out to her, to which she raised her head and smiled at him.


    "Oh, my boy Felix, you woke up. I thought you were going to sleep some more as you were looking really tired yesterday."


    "Thank you for your concern, Miss Elsa. But I have toplete missions to earn something and pay...I mean contribute to the guild."


    Felix blurted with a slight sarcasm in his voice. Elsa shook her head at his frustration but did not speak about it.


    "Well, you can look at the missions pinned on that board. Everything there is for the unofficial members. Choose one and bring me the mission scroll that you want to ept."


    "Alright, I''ll do that."


    He replied back and went to the mission board. ncing around, he saw many scrolls with ordinary missions like delivering goods, finding lost things, helping in shops, and many others. There was also the reward written down at the bottom of the page.


    ''Hmm...These missions are not that dangerous for a beginner like me, so it''s a perfect way to earn some money.''


    Felix neared his face to the board and looked at the reward, most of them had numbers written there which could only mean the currency of this world.


    ''All of them have around 1k to 10k as a reward, but how valuable is this currency?''


    He took a mission scroll which was about finding a lost pet and went back to the reception.


    "Miss Elsa, can you tell me more about this mission?"


    Seeing that Felix had already chosen his mission, Elsa took the scroll and studied it.


    "This is rtively easier than most as you only need to find a lost pet along with the client. Having a reward of 1.5k, it''s a good mission for a beginner."


    He nodded at her, thinking that the mission was not that bad for his first mission because delivering or working in unfamiliar shops would be quite hard as he was new to the City.


    "What about the reward, Miss Elsa? I have never possessed any money so I don''t know how much they are worth."


    Elsa widened her eyes in surprise when he didn''t even know such a basic thing. She thought that he must have been too poor to have never seen money as she smiled sadly in her mind and exined to him.


    "So basically, the currency of this world are coins called Tahl, and an average person''s monthly sry in Edenmont City is around 5k to 10k tahl. There are different values for a different color of tahl."


    "White coin means one tahl, green coin means 10 tahl, yellow is 20 tahl, with orange and blue as 50 and 100 tahl. Silver coin is 1k tahl and a golden coin is 10k tahl. While thest one is a tinum coin worth 100k tahl. Do you get it?"


    "Oh thank you, Miss Elsa. I get it now."


    "Well, even though this mission is safe and easy, don''t forget to be careful and take care of yourself."


    She reminded him as he took back the scroll and started walking towards the main door. Hearing her words, Felix smiled at how she was worried at about him when he suddenly remembered something.


    Awkwardly going back to the desk, he scratched his cheeks and asked the receptionist.


    "Umm, Miss Elsa. Do you have a map of the city?"


    Elsa looked at the awkward boy who was too embarrassed to look at her as she took out a piece of paper from under her desk.


    "The price of the map will be 200 tahl, and it''ll be deducted from your first mission''s reward. Is that fine?", she gave a smile of that of a businesswoman.


    "Yes fine. of course it''s fine", Felix gritted his teeth as he seemed to get into debt for the third time now.


    ''First the room, then the clothes, and now a map.''


    ''Sigh...I better start earning a lot from missions to cover my expenses.''


    He shook his head and took the map while nodding toward the happy receptionist. Not wasting any more time, Felix started walking to the main door and begin his first mission.

 Chapter 20: First Mission

    <h4>Chapter 20: First Mission</h4>


    Felix took out the id card from his pocket and showed it to the evil eye in the middle of the door just like how Noah did it yesterday.


    The door glowed a bit reddish and slowly opened, making the morning sunlight enter the hall.


    The weather outside looked peaceful as a few birds flew over the horizon, the clouds looked grey as they blocked the sun and made the surroundings cool and humid.


    He kept the id card back in his pocket and went outside the building. Taking short steps, he arrived at the gate which automatically opened to let him go out.


    When outside the guild, he turned back to look at his new home which was the guild''s building. It looked enchanting and impressive as the morning rays shined on the tall dark architecture.


    ''It still feels a bit spooky, but inside it felt really warm and pleasant. Appearances cannot be judged at all.''


    Felix pondered as he smiled at how the guild was not a bad ce, ignorant to the fact that it was all a facade for the new members.


    ''Well, let''s start the mission.''


    Turning back, he took out the map bought with his debt money and took a look at it.


    The map of the City looked detailed and irregr in shape, but it was divided into five main parts, the north, south, east, west, and center.


    He studied the map and found that the guild building''s location was in the southern part of the City. And the ce for his mission was near to it, a short distance of 1.2 kilometers from here.


    Carefully sorting his thoughts, he started walking in its direction while ncing at the streets in his surroundings.


    ''Hmmm...there seem to be fewer people in the morning except for some going about their jobs.''


    The slight gust of wind made him feel cool as the clouds kept the city in their shadows. Holding the map in his hand, Felix navigated through the streets and roads to his destination.


    Fifteen minutester, he stood in front of a neighborhood having identical houses. Checking the house number on the gate, he walked to the house mentioned in the scroll.


    He opened the gate and walked inside thepound. Arriving at the door, he gave a few knocks.


    *Knock* *Knock*


    "Hello, did you submit a mission?"


    After a few seconds, the door of the house opened up and a fatdy walked out wiping the tears from her face. She looked sad as she observed Felix.


    "Oh, are you from the guild?"


    She asked strangely as the boy looked too young to be a member of a guild.


    "Yes Mam, I''m a new unofficial member of the guild and I''m here toplete the mission.", he replied to her.


    "Is that so...Well, for now,e inside. Let me tell you more about the mission."


    She turned to the side and weed him in.


    "Okay."


    They both entered the house and sat in the living room.


    "Do you need anything to drink?", she asked as Felix sat on a chair.


    "No Mam, I''ve had my breakfast."


    At his reply, she nodded and sat on a different chair, a bitrger.


    "Then let me tell you about my request."


    "Please help me find my baby cat Suzzy."


    "Sniff...Sniff...She is just 5 months old, and while roaming around in the neighborhood, she never came back."


    The fatdy cried as she wiped her tears with a handkerchief. She appeared to have already searched the neighborhood where she could not find any clue.


    "I have also asked many people about her, but they seem to have not noticed her at all."


    Felix already knew the mission from reading the scroll, but he still frowned as they had no clue at all.


    ''If we have no idea where the cat went, then we''ll just have to look around in random locations.''


    ''But she said that there''s no clue even in this neighborhood, then where did the cat go?''


    As he pondered about where the cat could possibly go. The fatdy again started crying getting no reply from the boy.


    "Sniff...sniff...do you have no way to find my cat? What am I going to do now?"


    He got worried and consoled thedy.


    "Don''t worry Mam, we''ll definitely find her."


    ''To find a way?... Maybe I can use my skill...''


    He got up and called out to the wailingdy.


    "Mam, can you show me where you saw the cat for thest time?"


    The fatdy looked surprised before she nodded and walked out of the house with Felix.


    "It should be just outside the gates of the house."


    They came outside the gate and she pointed at the right side of the wall where there was a pir for the street lights.


    "There. I saw it strolling around there."


    Felix nodded and went near it.


    He acted as if he was checking around the ce looking for the cat''s footsteps. Slowly he ced his hand on the pir while thinking of hearing the cat''s voice and closed his eyes.


    ''shback''


    The voices turned silent as he could faintly hear a cute animal''s sound.


    "Meow...meow"


    The voice came again before silencing down.


    "Meow.."


    He concentrated on the direction the voice was going before opening his eyes.


    "Mam, I think it went in that direction."


    Felix pointed to the right side of the street and smiled assuredly at the fatdy.


    She was a bit doubtful at his answer but having no choice she could only nod and reply to him.


    "Okay. We''ll go in that direction as you say."


    They went there with Felix pretending to look around as he found another pir a bit away.


    He told her to wait there and again used the skill on the pir.


    Coming back, he pointed to her in a different direction to where they traversed again. Doing the same thing several times, they finally arrived at a bridge with a small stream flowing under it.


    "Mam, let''s check under the bridge. Maybe it''s hidden there."


    The fatdy could only hopefully nod right now as she felt a little tired from all the walking.


    "You go and check there. I won''t be able to climb back if I go there."


    Felix smiled strangely as he went to the small bridge. Walking down the area, he arrived at the banks of the stream and looked beneath the bridge.


    "meoww...."


    He grinned at the small cat that was staring at him curiously from under the bridge. It appeared a bit dirty with some mud on its shiny white fur but he didn''t care about that as he caught the small cat with his hands.


    Resisting a bit, the cat tried to run away from his hands but he didn''t allow it and held it tightly near his chest.


    Climbing back to the top of the bridge, he saw the fatdy running toward him as she spread her arms.


    "Suuuzzzyyy"


    She cried out loudly before snatching the cat from his hands and hugging it tightly in herrge bosom, almost suffocating it.


    "Mam, I think you should not hold it so tightly. It''s already a bit weak and needs a bit of care."


    "Hmm thank you. If it wasn''t for you I would not have found it.", she thanked the silver-haired boy who seemed much more pleasing to the eyes now.


    Felix just smiled at her joyfully as he finallypleted his first mission.


    ''It was easy money. Maybe I should open a ''finding lost pets'' office?''


    He thought that it could be a profitable business.


    "Here. Give me your scroll. I''ll sign it so that you can ept your reward from the guild."


    He took out his scroll and gave it to her. She signed it and gave it back to him. With the cat in her arms, she waved at him and walked back to her house.


    "Thank you for submitting a mission at our guild. I hope you ask for our help again."


    He thanked her sweetly and waved at her retreating figure.


    ''Nice. I got my first mission done. That too only within 1 hour."


    Felix rejoiced as he opened the map to find the way back to the guild.


    "Hmm...where am I?"


    The silver-haired boy looked aghast holding the map realizing that he got lost on his first mission.


    "Really? I got lost..."

 Chapter 21: Getting Lost.

    <h4>Chapter 21: Getting Lost.</h4>


    Felix stood rooted on the spot as he speechlessly stared hard at the map in his hands.


    "Fucking Hell..."


    That was all he could utter as he cursed himself for getting lost in the new City.


    He fully opened the map and searched for any clue he could find.


    "The location of the guild is marked on the map, that''s alright..."


    "But the question is....where the hell am I?"


    There was no point or indicator showing his location on the map like on a smartphone, so he could not find his position there. He tried hard to look for any way to get the location right, but it was of no use.


    "After getting the lost kitten back, is it my turn now??"


    He ridiculed himself shaking his head at the dead joke.


    "What do I do now?"


    ncing around, he saw the bridge where he found the kitten. But he didn''t know the way back to the fatdy''s house as he was too upied with using the skill on the way and thus did not remember the path they came from.


    Many people walked by him as he stood at the ce with arge map of the city in his hand. Some were curious about what he was doing but nevertheless, they ignored him and went about their daily tasks.


    He considered asking a passerby for directions and went toward an amiable old man walking on the street with a stick.


    "Umm...Excuse me, do you know what ce is this?"


    The old man with short white hair stopped and turned to him surprised at the question, as he intently looked at the boy who was asking for directions.


    "Boy, did you get lost on the way home?"


    He asked as he rubbed his beard while narrowing his eyes to take a good look at the silver-haired boy.


    "Ehh it''s not that I got lost. It''s just that I wanted to find a ce to go and couldn''t find it."


    Felix lied without changing his expression as he pointed to the map in his hand.


    "Can you please help me point at where we are, then I''ll be able to find my way."


    The old man gawked at the map as not many had a detailed map in their belongings. It could be said that such a map was very rare and only high-ranking people had them.


    He speechlessly looked at the boy who did not know the value of such a map. Shaking his head, the old man studied the map and pointed to a street drawn on it.


    "This is where we are, at Erling Street. You can check the map and find your way back."


    "Oh thank you very much, senior. I very much appreciate your help", Felix thanked him happily.


    "Haha, it''s not a problem, at least these old bones could help you with something."


    The old man chuckled and joyfully epted the young boy''s gratitude.


    "I''ll be going now then."


    Felix waved at him and walked away holding his map and searching the way back to the guild.


    The old man looked at the retreating figure of the boy and sighed.


    "Sigh...it''s really good to be young."


    He shook his head as being old made him regret a lot of things that he didn''t do when he was still young.


    "Grandpa! Where were you..?"


    A man around 22 years old came running as he saw his grandfather walking in the street again forgetting the way.


    "Grandpa! You got lost again. This is Denise Street, not the Erling Street where we were nning to go."


    "Hmm? What did you say?"


    The old man shouted as he couldn''t believe his grandson saying that he got lost.


    "There''s no way I got lost. Maybe they changed the name of the street but there''s no way I''m old enough to lose my way."


    The man sweated as he rubbed his forehead at his grandpa who had dementia and always lost his way, but he never epted the truth and just argued with them.


    "Yes Yes Grandpa, maybe they changed the name. So, how about we go back to where we were?"


    "Hmm, let''s go. I''m tired from all the walking."


    The old man and his grandson went about their way as Felix went in the wrong direction the entric grandpa gave.


    *****


    A few minutester.


    Felix stood in front of a random building as he looked back and forth between the map in his hand and the spot.


    "What the fuck?? Did I get lost again??"


    Felix eximed as threw the map down and squatted on the ground, not believing that he became directionally challenged after reincarnating.


    "Is there something wrong with the map? But it was worth 200 tahl! There''s no way Miss Elsa sold me a counterfeit map right?"


    He sighed, grabbing the map back and keeping it away as it had no use to him now.


    "What now?"


    It appeared that he was in an alleyway where there was hardly any public. The dark shadows of the houses and the buildings hindered his eyes from seeing much.


    He started going deeper into the alley to look for a way out.


    Traversing through the narrow passageway, he crossed many diverging paths but still remained on the main alley.


    Now, it was pure silence. He could not hear anything except for his footsteps.


    There were no living beings to be seen as he slowly trod forward into the dark alleyway.


    "This is getting scary...."


    Felix cautiously gazed around him as he felt quite scared at the growing broken buildings that he met on the way.


    It seemed he was entering some kind of ghetto of the city, but he could still not find anything or anyone.


    Suddenly, he heard a distant sound of a melody.


    ?~~~?~~~?~~~


    It appeared to be a weing song, but it was more of a soft type that made people feel rxed and sleepy.


    "What''s this music? It sounds really suspicious..."


    Nevertheless, he followed the faint music and searched for the source. Finding the ce it wasing from, he hid behind a wall and peeked at it.


    The ce appeared to be a dome-like tent made up of different colors. The tip of it was pointed toward the sky and a small opening of the tent made the music faintly escape out.


    "A circus? Seriously..."


    Felix was dumbfounded at what he found. He did not imagine there could be something like a circus in the fantasy world.


    ''Maybe I''m only thinking about all those anime and web novels that I forgot that this is an actual world. I should stopparing this world to those stories.''


    He gulped at his naivety and ignorance that could one day make him regret ever believing in his stupid fantasies.


    ''There''s so much that I do not know about this world. If I remain clueless and unaware of the things here, then I''ll be just digging my own grave.''


    Felix took a deep breath and shook away his stupid tendencies to make fun of things. He stared seriously at the circus tent and contemted to himself.


    ''So, should I go back or....."


    He gazed forward with a piercing re and finally made his decision.

 Chapter 22: Fortune and Misfortune.

    <h4>Chapter 22: Fortune and Misfortune.</h4>


    "Curiosity killed the cat."


    A proverb, that is used to warn of the dangers of unnecessary investigation or experimentation.


    It also implies that being curious can sometimes lead to danger or misfortune.


    And here we have a silver-haired boy, looking curiously at the circus-like ce that he deemed, was the perfect definition of suspicion.


    But the questions as to ''what it was'' and ''why was it in an empty alley'' made him forget the fact that this was a cruel world devoid of a speck of mercy.


    Felix prepared himself for whatever he was going to face at the ce that looked like a circus.


    He inwardly activated his skill ''Silent steps'' and strode forward, sneaking up to the opening of the tent.


    Holding the soft curtain-like opening, he parted it slightly as he gazed inside.


    There, he saw it.


    Cages that were too big for a human.


    And certainly, it did not confine humans, but.....monsters.


    ''W-What the hell is this??''


    Felix cried out in his mind as his brain failed to process the horrible scene in front of him.


    Monsters like goblins, wolves, trolls, kobolds, and much more were held captive being bruised and wounded as they seemed to be on their deathbed, jailed within the cages.


    They could not detect his presence as he was using his skill, but even without activating it, they would not be able to sense him as they wereid unconscious in the cage with their twitching bodies.


    *Gulp*


    Felix took a deep breath, calming his racing heart that felt like it was about to jump out of his chest.


    Around the cages, there were chests and other wooden barrelsying on the ground. They seemed to be filled with water and food to feed the captured monsters.


    ''What should I do? What should I do?''


    His mind raced as he bit his fingers, trying toprehend the surreal scene thaty in front of him.


    A nervous energy coursed through his veins, his palms growing damp as he clenched his fists.


    ''This seems too terrifying, maybe I should run from here.''


    He hesitated for a moment, debating whether to approach or retreat from the horrible spectacle.


    But before he could do that, he heard footsteps approaching from behind him. Someone was walking toward the opening he was at, from the alley he came from.


    ''Hurry! Hide!''


    Without wasting any more time, he quickly entered the tent and hid behind arge chest, shrinking his body and making no sound.


    "Kekeke Sir Oswell, you will not regret choosing to make a deal with us. We will certainly give you something worthy for a noble."


    A sinister voice sounded, as a man of short stature entered the tent rubbing his hands together while wearing a professional smile on his face, that had a few broken teeth.


    "Umm, I expect that you have already prepared what I requested."


    This time, an arrogant voice could be heard as another man walked in. He was a bit on the taller side, with arge belly that could be mistaken as a pregnant woman''s stomach and a handlebar-style mustache on his face.


    "Yes yes, please follow me. I''ll show you some of our top-grade products"


    Felix stealthily peeked at them and saw that they were walking deeper into the other section of the tent.


    ''Are they doing business with the monsters'' bodies? Is that even legal? But that man seems to be a noble from what I heard.''


    He considered his options carefully. If caught, he''d face the same fate as the monsters. However, his main concern was...


    ''These are free skill points...!''


    The silver-haired boy''s ruby-red eyes gleamed greedily as he looked at the many wounded and half-dead monsters that wouldn''t give any resistance.


    ''If I kill them, and escape from here. Wouldn''t I make wholesale of skill points?''


    He became breathless at the thought of earning numerous skill points that his weak body andbat skills would struggle to obtain currently.


    ''It''s now or never. I cannot always be indecisive, there won''t be any more chances like this.''


    Making up his mind, Felix brought out the knife from his back.


    Before leaving his room, he had hidden it under his shirt, just in case something unexpected happened and he needed it.


    Felix took a deep breath and walked to the nearest cage holding the knife with both his hands.


    Inside the cage, there was a kobold, a monster that is a craven reptilian humanoid with red skin and short scales on some parts of their bodies.


    It was 1.45 m tall with thin horns on its head.


    The kobold wasying unconscious like every other monster in the tent with its body leaning against the bars of the cage.


    Felix stood behind the caged kobold and shed his knife at its neck.


    "Sqwelp"


    Blood spurted out of the wound as the monster''s neck looked half severed.


    Finding that the stab did not kill it, he took another deep breath and swung the knife at its neck a few more times.


    "Sqwelp...sqwelp...sqwelp"


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank]


    [You have gained 10 skill points]


    Atst, Felix heard the message from the system and stopped his actions.


    Looking at his red hands and the flowing blood from the neck of the monster, he hardened his heart.


    ''It''s not over yet.''


    Swiftly moving toward the other monsters, he did the same movements and shed their necks by inserting his hands into the cage.


    "Sqwelp...sqwelp..."


    A wolf, goblin, kobold, troll,


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank]


    [You have gained 10 skill points]


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank]


    [You have gained 10 skill points]


    [.....]


    After killing 8 of the many monsters in the tent, he sat on the ground with an exhausted pale face from all the carnage he did.


    "Haaa..., that was crazy."


    He couldn''t believe he had mercilessly killed the motionless monsters.


    ''If it was a fair fight in a forest, I would have already been dead and eaten by those monsters. So, there''s no reason for me to show sympathy toward them.''


    Felix clenched his hands to keep from passing out, not wanting to give himself a reason to feel guilty.


    ''No! I gotta do it, there''s no guarantee I would not fall into dangerous situations again. Only by being stronger can I keep myself alive.''


    Steeling his heart, he rose up to his feet.


    He held the knife tightly and again went on a killing spree as he continued to take the lives of the miserable half-dead monsters.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank]


    [You have gained 10 skill points]


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank]


    [You have gained 10 skill points]


    [...]


    After killing all 22 monsters in the section of the tent that he was in. Heid down near a chest resting his body from the overexhaustion.


    "Haa...Haa..."


    ''It''s done, there''s no monsters remaining here.''


    ncing around at the tent with all the dead monsters, Felix made up his mind to not stay here anymore.


    He quickly got up, his body limping from the fatigue.


    Walking out of the opening he came from, he hurriedly moved away from the tent. Going far away as he could.


    When suddenly he heard loud shouts from the tent behind.


    "WHO DID THIS!!"


    "FIND HIM NOW!!"


    The screams reverberated through the alleys making a chill running down the spine of everyone who heard it.


    Felix froze as the people in the tent seemed to have finally found out about the mess he had made.


    "Shit! I got to run."


    Not wasting a single second, he activated his skill and started running through the alleys without looking back.


    Unfortunately, he met a dead end without a single way out after sprinting toward a narrow path.


    Before he could run back and escape down another alley, he heard hurried footsteps approaching from behind.


    "FUCK! They''re going to catch me at this rate."


    He looked around where he was and couldn''t find a way to escape making him scared shitless and feel terrible about the situation.


    ''What do I do now??''

 Chapter 23: Third Skill and Reward.

    <h4>Chapter 23: Third Skill and Reward.</h4>


    "Gulp"


    ''What the hell should I do now!!!''


    Head clouded with doubts and fear, he could not make a thought of what to do in this predicament.


    He could hear the rapidly approaching footsteps and the shouts of the people who came to catch the culprit of the mess in the tent.


    And he stood there, ncing around in panic not making head or tails as to what he had to do to save himself from getting caught.


    ''Calm down Felix, you have a system, calm down..''


    Reminding himself that he had a system to help him, he stopped his restlessness and started thinking of a n to use the new skill points he got.


    ''I need to create a skill to escape...shit. Why am I always escaping?''


    Still cursing, he deliberated on what skill could help him from escaping from the dead end without a single way out.


    Eyes closed, his mind reyed many scenes ranging from abilities to powers of different characters from his fantasies.


    He widened his eyes when he remembered a scene from an anime he saw. It was his favorite anime from his previous life, one pie*e, and the ability was from a devilfrui* called sui sui no mi which made him feel that it had a lot of potentials.


    Felix closed his eyes and quickly imagined the skill and its uses.


    "System hurry and create that skill."


    [Processing the skill''s power scale....grading the skill....estimating the possible points required.....skill sessfully moduled.]


    "Fucking hurry!!"


    [Ding!]


    [Skill Name: Earth Swimming


    Description:


    The skill allows the user to swim in a solid matter such as ground and walls as if they were water. Even allowing the user to swim upwards, seemingly defying gravity.


    Cost: 90 skill points]


    [Do you wish to use 90 skill points and create the skill ''Earth Swimming''?]


    "90? Fair enough I guess. Yes, create it now!"


    [Ding!]


    [Sessfully created a new skill.]


    Confirming that the skill was created, he didn''t waste any more time and quickly thought of using the skill.


    Slowly, his feets started to sink into the ground. As if the ground was water, Felix''s body started to drown in it.


    When his whole body sank into the ground and disappeared without the slightest hint of his existence, the people finally arrived at the dead-end.


    "There seems to be no way ahead. Let''s go back and search through the other paths."


    After finding that there was no here and no way to go ahead, they discussed it among themselves and turned around to leave the ce.


    The sound of their footsteps went back from where they came from, as nobody was left at the scene.


    *****


    ''This is fucking awesome!!''


    Felix thought as he swam through the ground. He could not see much as he was inside the solid, yet liquid for his touch surface.


    As he quickly moved within the ground, he could not help but think that this skill was a cheat through and through. It could be used to infiltrate, escape, steal, and much more without any fear of being caught.


    ''Damn, now there''s no need to be afraid of people ever catching me.''


    He grinned evilly as he slowly surfaced his head to see if they were still running after him.


    It seemed that he was already far from them as he could not see or hear their footsteps any longer. Thinking that there was no need to be afraid of them catching him, he slowly swam on the ground finding a way to the public streets.


    After a few minutes of struggling and navigating through the alleyways, he started hearing themon hustle and bustle sound of the public streets.


    ''Sigh...I''m finally safe.''


    From behind a wall, Felix hid and slowly came out of the ground to the surface, then deactivated his new skill ''Earth Swimming''. Making sure that nobody was looking at him, he swiftly joined the crown and started walking.


    ''Wait, I don''t even know where I''m going.''


    Realizing that he still did not know the way to the guild, he took out his map and started asking some people the directions.


    "Hello, do you know the directions to the Twilight Chaos Guild?"


    Felix made sure to ask multiple people this time in case they gave him the wrong directions.


    Now, with the direction that many people gave, he found the way and rapidly navigated toward the guild.


    *****


    The seven-floor tall dark gothic building stood in front of him.


    "Sniff...I''m finally back."


    Felix felt like crying after seeing the not-so-scary guild building that he kind of missed after getting lost in the unknown city.


    "Growl~~"


    "Oh! Right on time, huh?"


    Rubbing his roaring tummy, Felix smiled at how today''s events went.


    ''Ipleted my first mission easily and even got many skill points from a fortunate encounter. Even though I spent some of them creating a new skill, it was worth it.''


    He started walking toward the gate and entered thepound. Taking out his id card, he pressed it against the evil eye on the door.


    "Creak~"


    The big door slowly opened up, revealing the hall. Felix made his way toward the reception as the door automatically closed itself.


    "Miss Elsa, I havepleted the mission."


    He called out to the receptionist who was busy arranging some parchments on her desk.


    "Oh, Felix. Youpleted it so quickly."


    Elsa responded a bit amazed that hepleted it so fast, considering it was his first mission and with his inexperience in such things.


    "Here, this is the mission scroll."


    He took out the scroll which was signed by the client and gave it to her.


    Checking the scroll, she took out a stamp and made the mission''s statusplete. After that, she opened a drawer from the desk and took out some coins.


    "Congrattions onpleting your first mission, this is your earned reward."


    Elsa apuded the happily smiling boy as she ced some coins on the desk. They were one silver coin and five blue coins.


    "This is the reward you get forpleting the mission. Do you wish to pay the debt you owe us right now? Or will you pay itter?"


    Felix stopped his hands that were moving toward the desk to snatch the coins he saw for the first time. His face turned from joy to dumbfounded as he remembered the money he owed them.


    With a resigned expression, he turned to reply to the receptionist who wore a devil-like smile on her face as if finding joy in torturing a little kid.


    "T-This...sigh...alright I''ll pay them right now."


    "Wonderful, taking into ount the price of the map was 200 tahl and the set of clothes was worth 60 tahl."


    She took three blue coins back and put two yellow coins on the desk. Pushing it toward Felix, she smiled at him.


    "Here, this will be your reward. A total of 1240 tahls. Thank you forpleting the mission."


    Felix looked at the now reduced coins and took them in a sh because he did not want to lose any more of that meager sum.


    "Oh, thank you for the reward. But shouldn''t I also pay for the room?"


    "You don''t have to worry about that. The rent of the room is paid after every month, so you do not have to pay it every day you live there."


    "That''s nice-"


    "Growl~~"


    Felix and Elsa looked at where the voice came from and stared at his tummy which was still roaring like a distant thunderstorm.


    "Haha, it seems you have to also reward your stomach with something."


    The receptionist chuckled at the boy who turned red from embarrassment as the growling voice was too loud in the quiet hall and it could be heard echoing across.


    "I-I''ll get going then.."


    He could only blurt that out before dashing toward the stairs, not minding everyone''s strange looks.


    Elsa shook her head and smiled at Felix who seemed like he would empty the kitchen with that ferocious look on his face.


    "Boy, you have to eat a lot and grow strong. Or else you won''t be able to keep up with the events that have yet toe."


    Her face turned grim as she remembered what their leader had ordered them to do and what fate their guild would have in the near future.

 Chapter 24: Rest and Plans.

    <h4>Chapter 24: Rest and ns.</h4>


    After running inside the dining hall and having a full meal, Felix decided to return to his room.


    "Sigh...I''m dead tired with a full stomach."


    Opening the door with the key, he entered his room and jumped onto the bed.


    "All I need is a quick nap right now...."


    He closed his eyes and rested his overused body that was exhausted from running and shing his knife around. His deep snores were the only thing left in the room.


    *****


    "Hey Miss Elsa, do you know where Felix is?"


    Called out a cheerful voice at the reception desk.


    Elsa raised her head above and saw Noah and his friends standing in front of her.


    "Oh Noah, hello there. About Felix, he justpleted his mission and must be resting in his room."


    "What! Has he alreadypleted his mission? But that''s too fast, we were just about to ask him if he could join our group andplete a mission together."


    Noah eximed, as he couldn''t believe that thin and weak boy could do a mission on his own, that too this quick.


    Shaya and the others were also surprised at hearing that.


    What they didn''t know was that he had alreadypleted the mission only in one hour and had to spend the other two hours finding the way back to the guild, almost getting himself caught.


    "Well, that''s too bad then. If you guys want, you can go to his room and look for him directly."


    "Oka-"


    "No, Miss Elsa. I don''t think we should disturb him now that he has justpleted his mission."


    Shaya interrupted Noah who was going to agree with the receptionist''s n.


    The others also nodded aspleting a mission would be quite tiring, and they too would need rest and sleep as they were still young and could not afford to remain working.


    Noah finally understood what they were talking about as he sighed and reminded Miss Elsa.


    "Well, it seems we''ll have toplete our mission with just the five of us. Oh, by the way, Miss Elsa. Be sure to tell Felix that we are nning to host a wee party for him at the Joyous Tavern right down the street."


    "How wonderful! I''m sure Felix will be happy knowing you guys are filling his stomach with good food."


    Elsa pped her hands as she imagined how happy Felix would be remembering his roaring stomach from a while ago.


    "Haha, we''ll be going now toplete our mission. Goodbye, Miss Elsa."


    "Bye. Don''t get lost and be careful on the way."


    Noah and his group waved at her and walked out of the guild building after taking a scroll from the board.


    *****


    "Sir Oswell, this...I''ll make sure to find the person who did all this."


    Back in the tent that looked like a cemetery more than a circus now.


    The short-statured man was sweating a lot as he gazed upon the mess that was caused around the tent.


    "Hmmph, there''s no point finding excuses with me. If you don''t get me what I asked for, then you''ll have to pack your bags and leave this city."


    The noble spoke in a furious voice as his ns seems to have been foiled by someone.


    But as arrogant as he was, he did not want to waste his time finding the culprit who will not even give him what he wanted.


    "I won''t tolerate any more mistakes. The next time Ie here, I want you to give me the products without any blunder. Do you get it?"


    He gulped at knowing that his small business would be thrown out of the city if he couldn''t satisfy this angry customer.


    "Yes Yes Sir Oswell, I''ll be sure to be careful this time and make no mistakes."


    The man appeased the noble as the consequences of failing in doing it would not be something he could handle at the moment.


    ''Damn it! No matter who it was that did this. If you get in my hands, then I''ll make your life worse than these monsters.''


    His face contorted as he suppressed his anger toward the culprit and made a helpless face in front of the noble. He promised to take revenge on the hateful person who created so much trouble for him.


    *****


    The culprit behind all this twitched.


    Felix woke up finding the evening sunrays falling on his face from the slightly opened curtains.


    "Haa...that was a nice sleep."


    Getting up from the bed, he refreshed his body in the washroom. Wearing his clothes and also putting the knife hidden behind him, he walked out of the room.


    ''I got lost two times today. So, I must start learning the way around the city.''


    This time, he wanted to make sure that he learns what streets he''ll be walking on and where to go from there.


    Coming down the stairs, he walked to the reception but stopped himself as a few guys were discussing something with Miss Elsa.


    Waiting for them to go, he sat on one of the sofas and thought about the incident that happened earlier.


    ''I forgot as I was hungry at that time, but should I inform Miss Elsa about what happened today?''


    He frowned as that idea did not seem to be good. If he had only seen the people from the tent and not caused such a mess, then it would have been fine telling the guild.


    But he not only made a lot of trouble but also sessfully escaped from them which would make him a bit suspicious in their eyes for the small and weak kid he was.


    ''And then, what will I say if they found the mess that I created? So, I think it''s out of the question to talk about it.''


    It would look very suspicious if they found out that he escaped from them and his skills would be brought out to the light.


    "Hey, look at who is here!"


    A yful voice suddenly sounded breaking him out of thoughts as someone came behind him and shouted out.


    Felix turned behind to look at the green haired boy, who was pointing at him and grinning while elbowing his angry friend.


    "You..."


    Felix knew there was some trouble knocking at his door at the moment.

 Chapter 25: Troublemakers.

    <h4>Chapter 25: Troublemakers.</h4>


    Felix looked surprised as he saw the two guys he met in the corridor this morning.


    The guy who was pointing at him had dark green hair and he seemed to make fun of his friend next to him who was the guy that stopped Felix from going to the dining hall.


    His friend gritted his teeth when he saw the boy who ignored him this morning, because of which his friend made fun of him for the whole day.


    "You punk. It was all because of you."


    His eyes red from anger, the boy strode toward Felix and stopped just a step away.


    With his face right before him, he spoke from between his teeth.


    "You don''t know what I have suffered."


    Felix looked really surprised at the turn of events. One moment he was sitting casually on the sofa and the other moment a guy was suddenly in front of him threatening.


    "What the hell does that got to do with me?"


    Hearing the nonchnt voice of the boy, he felt his head spinning from anger as he raised his hand to cast a spell.


    "Fireba-"


    But before he could continue, he felt a chill run down his spine as a huge pressure seem to descend on him.


    "Eric."


    "You should stop what you''re doing."


    A cold and alluring voice sounded as Miss Elsa stood behind the boy named Eric and held his shoulder.


    Feeling the strength from her hands and the terrifying force within her body, he fell down on his knees and started gasping for breath.


    "I-I''m s-sorry, it w-was by m-mistake."


    He stuttered out as he could not resist the cold mana that she was releasing onto him that made his bones freeze.


    Felix could not help but gulp at the strange scene as he felt that he had finallye across the different powers of a mage.


    ''Is this the power of a mage from the ''mage cultivation'' section?''


    The pressure of force ceased as Elsa removed her hand and stopped using her mana.


    "If you do that again, then you''ll be met with punishment. Do you agree?"


    "Y-Yes Miss Elsa, I won''t ever do that again."


    She shook her head with a tired expression and sighed.


    "That''s the 16th time you''re saying that."


    Turning her head back to the dark green-haired boy, she warned him.


    "And you Steve, if you rile him up again, I''ll cut that tongue of yours."


    Her eyes gleamed dangerously as she did not want to take a ''no'' as an answer.


    Steve just put both of his hands on his mouth and shook his head rapidly as he just wanted to run away from there.


    "I won''t do that! I won''t!"


    The receptionist nodded and looked at Felix who was just staring nkly at the scene not having any idea of what just happened and why.


    "Ohh it sure is lively here. Did I miss something good?"


    A boy with long blonde hair walked in from the main door, breaking the silence with hisid-back voice.


    His hands were in his pockets as he walked inside with a smirk on his face.


    Steve hurriedly ran toward the boy and shook the other guy''s hand and started revealing to him about what happened.


    "Roven, Eric''s done it again. And guess what, a little boy made fun of him."


    He lied fluently, ming Felix for getting Eric in trouble, when in fact he was the one responsible.


    "Oh Steve, do you really think I''ll believe you?"


    Roven gave a mocking smile as he ignored his liar of a friend.


    "Anyways, Big Sis Elsa, who''s this new guy?"


    Felix looked surprised at the way the boy named Roven called out to the receptionist.


    ''They both have blonde hair and look slightly simr...are they siblings?''


    Elsa looked at her little brother and reprimanded him.


    "Did I not tell you to teach your team members somemon sense, why are they making trouble again?"


    Roven shrugged his shoulders and looked away.


    "You can''t me me. I did tell them to stop doing that, but in the end, I''m not their mother, they just won''t listen to me."


    Steve and Eric scratched their head as they were embarrassed that people were talking shit about them right in front of them.


    Roven stopped the conversation and walked near the boy who was acting as if he was a spectator.


    "So, who are you?"


    ''Damn, again that same question...''


    Felix was annoyed by their drama but still answered politely to avoid showing Miss Elsa his bad behavior.


    "Well, I don''t know what answer you want from me. But my name is Felix."


    Roven rubbed his chin as he pondered about something.


    "Hmmm, did they make trouble for you?"


    He pointed at his two teammates and asked him again.


    "I don''t even know what they were talking about.", replied the confused Felix.


    "I guessed so, they always do that. Don''t worry, if they trouble you again just tell me,...no actually tell Big Sis Elsa. She''ll handle them."


    The mischievous blonde boy was pleased with himself for making things difficult for his two teammates.


    The two of them started sweating when they heard that.


    Elsa twitched her lips when two troublemakers were dumped on her to deal with.


    "Ahem, Felixe here. I have something to say to you. And you three, don''t make a disturbance in the hall, go do your work."


    At hermanding orders, the two troublemakers were pulled away by Roven who waved at Felix with a tired smile.


    "Bye Felix, try not to get in trouble with them."


    The silver-haired boy awkwardly waved at them and turned toward Miss Elsa who was walking to her desk.


    He stood in front of her and asked what she wanted to talk about.


    "What is it that you wanted to tell me, Miss Elsa."


    The receptionist paused for a second and told him as she slightly grinned.


    "Noah and his friends wanted to give a wee party at the Joyous Tavern and they asked me to inform you about it."


    Felix eyes widened at what she said, he couldn''t help but feel delightful in his heart when he remembered Noah and others.


    "Are you serious? A weing party, that too just for me?"


    She chuckled at him and thought how cute he looked at the surprise that the others gave him. Nodding, she replied.


    "Yes, just for you. Tonight for dinner, you have to get ready and go there."


    Felix bobbed his head in excitement as he wanted to taste what other foods the city had.


    "If that''s so, I''ll get ready ande back in a jiffy."


    Without waiting for a reply from her, he ran up the stairs and went to his room.


    *****


    Half an hourter.


    Felix walked out of his room fully cleaned and fresh after taking a nice hot bath in the washroom.


    "Haa...that felt good. To think I forgot to take a bath after that tiresome mission."


    Now wearing a new set of clothes, a maroon T-shirt with a v-shaped neck and cream color pants. He looked handsome with his clean and shining silver hair.


    He came down the stairs and entered the hall. Standing at the reception desk, he called out.


    "Miss Elsa, I''m ready."


    She raised her head and nodded at the now good-looking boy.


    "It seems you''re going to woo somedies out there."


    Felix just blushed at herpliment and handed his map to her.


    "This, please mark the ce called Joyous Tavern."


    Elsa raised her brow at his awkward face but chuckled when she remembered he was still new to the city. Taking the map, she marked some ces for a minute and gave it back to him.


    "Take this, I have also marked some other ces that can be of use to you. And have a nice party."


    "Thank you, Miss Elsa, I''m going."


    He bid her bye and walked out of the guild building.


    Staring at the map in his hand with many new directions and marks while exiting the gate, he smiled.


    "Now, I won''t get lost."

 Chapter 26: Welcome Party.

    <h4>Chapter 26: Wee Party.</h4>


    With the map in his hands, Felix traversed the city as it started getting dark. The street lights were turning on as he finally found the way to the Joyous Tavern and stood at its door.


    ''So this is where they called me...''


    It was a brown-colored three story building with a big board on it that said its name. Pushing the wooden door, he walked inside.


    A strong smell of meat and vegetables hit his nose and he started salivating the moment he entered.


    There were a lot of tables on the right side with many people already waiting for their food, the left side had a half-open kitchen where chefs were preparing the dishes.


    "Oh, Felix! You''re here."


    A shout from the right corner made him turn to see Noah and others calling him by raising their hands.


    "Come here! We have booked a table."


    Felix waved back at them and hurried to their table.


    "Thank you, guys, for this...umm...wee party."


    He thanked them with a slight blush as he was still new and had not interacted much with them.


    "It''s fine Felix, you don''t have to thank us. We are friends so of course we''ll do this."


    Noah replied as he stood up from his seat and pulled a chair for Felix to sit on while already calling him his friend.


    ''Wow, that was fast. I''m already his friend now?''


    He chuckled at the way Noah behaved as the others also grinned at their friend who made a new member his friend this soon.


    Thomas pressed his sses and spoke.


    "Felix, you don''t understand. Noah will make everyone his friend the moment he talks with them."


    Shaya nodded as she added.


    "Yes, Thomas is right. Even the four of us were strangers but Noah just made us friends and created a team with the five of us."


    Felix shook his head while being impressed at how Noah could do that because he knew he wouldn''t be able to do that.


    "Noah must be a great person to be able to do that."


    "Hehe Felix, you don''t have topliment me. It''s making me embarrassed."


    Noah smiled shyly as he scratched his head and stopped them from talking about him.


    "Well, enough about me. We''re here to celebrate Felix joining our guild, so we must party now!"


    "Yay!"


    He shouted out and started ordering various foods and drinks from the waiter. The long list of orders made the worker sweat a bit as he nced at the kids wondering whether they could eat them or not.


    After the dishes were served, they all started to dig in while having a nice conversation.


    Felix had fun with them as they ate and talked a lot. They told him to not hold back and eat as much as he can.


    As usual, Kevin did not talk much with Betty being somewhat shy throughout the meal, but they did seem to have fun as they were smiling.


    Noah and Thomas were the ones who made a lot of mess as they argued about lots of things andpeted on who was the coolest.


    "So, Felix. Do you want toplete a mission together with us? We''ll teach you everything we know and you''ll also get a nice experience."


    Noah asked him out of the blue as they were conversing.


    Surprised at the proposal, Felix thought for a moment and agreed as it was not that bad to do some mission together with them.


    "Sure, I''ll be happy to do that."


    "Great! Then be ready tomorrow morning. We''ll show you how we do our missions."


    They smiled and shared with him about how they do their missions and some stories about the locality.


    After dinner, they all walked out of the tavern and bid each other farewell.


    "Thank you everyone for treating me to dinner. Next time, it''ll be me treating you guys."


    "Oh Felix, what are you saying? There''s no need for you to do that. We are friends, right?"


    Felix smiled and nodded his head at the always enthusiastic Noah.


    "I''ll be going now guys, take care."


    "You too, take care." x5


    Bidding them bye, he took out his map and starteding back to the guild''s building.


    Walking on the pavement with the lights of the street poles and the slight noise of a few carriages going by, he felt rxed.


    There were not many people on the streets but it was still safe without any dangers even though it was getting dark.


    The moonlight from the three moons made his silver hair glow bright in the dark night, attracting a lot of attention from the public.


    Felix didn''t mind that and just continued to walk.


    He reached the guild and entered the gate. Showing his card, the door opened as he walked inside.


    It seemed that Miss Elsa was busy with something else as she wasn''t present there. He climbed the stairs and went to the second floor.


    Feeling his full stomach, he didn''t go to the dining hall and just went back to his room.


    Laying on the bed, he thought of what happened today.


    ''I got a new skill which will be a lot useful to meter on. And I have some remaining skill points, but I''ll just keep them forter use if a need arises.''


    nning for theter events and tomorrow''s mission, he started dozing off.


    Sleep weed him as he went to dreand.


    *****


    "So, have you done it?"


    A hoarse voice came from an orb as a person kneeled in a dark room.


    That person trembled as he heard the voice but replied nevertheless.


    "Yes, leader. I have done as you ordered.....and issued a mission in the Twilight Chaos guild."


    "Good."


    The voice seemed happy as the person being called ''leader'' chuckled from within the orb.


    "Now, we can give them a surprise."


    He stopped and added while cackling.


    "A surprise that they''ll surely like kekekeke."


    The person in the room deeply bowed hiding his terrified expression as he knew things were going to get out of hand now.

 Chapter 27: Group Mission.

    <h4>Chapter 27: Group Mission.</h4>


    The sunlight greeted his face as he opened his eyes to a new day.


    ''Today, we''ll do a mission together.''


    He smiled at the thought of spending the daypleting a mission with his new friends.


    Getting out of bed, Felix stretched his body and entered the washroom, refreshing himself.


    Wearing his clothes, he exited his room and ate breakfast in the dining hall. After filling his tummy for the morning, he walked out and descended the stairs to the main hall.


    The moment he came downstairs he saw Noah and the group already there, standing in front of the mission board discussing.


    Thinking of pranking them, he smirked and activated his skill ''Silent Steps'' before sneaking behind them.


    Felix''s eyes gleamed evilly as he stood behind Noah and shouted like a ghost.


    "Booh!"


    His shout was met with a girly shriek.


    "Eeeiikk!!"


    Noah jumped in the air before hiding behind Kevin as his eyes revealed panic and fear.


    He turned to find Felixughing as he held his stomach and pointed toward him. The others were also holding back theirughter with their hand on their mouth.


    "Hahaha! Noah, you got scared like a girl!"


    "Y-You! Felix! How could you!!"


    Noah felt betrayed as his new friend was making fun of him and his eyes turned teary looking very sad.


    "I thought we were good friends...."


    Felix stopped and regretted it as it seemed that Noah took things seriously with ''friends''.


    "Umm Noah, that...I''m sorry. I was just ying with you."


    He shook his hands and came near Noah to pat his shoulders.


    "There there, you are a grown boy now. Don''t need to cry."


    Noah rubbed his eyes as he retorted and chuckled.


    "Who''s crying! I''m not crying, there was some dust in the air..."


    Shaya and Thomas looked at the clean hall which had practically no dust and shook their heads at his lie.


    Kevin patted Noah''s back in pity as he could not even lie properly.


    The shy Betty twitched her lips and pointed at Felix without any of her previous fear.


    "You can''t do that again! Friends don''t scare each other."


    Felix sweated as he raised both of his hands in the air and surrendered.


    "Okay Okay, I promise I won''t do that again."


    Seeing him agreeing to her, she couldn''t help but smile victoriously and fold her hands on her t chest.


    "What are you guys doing here in the early morning shouting around?"


    Miss Elsa suddenly broke their drama as she joined the group who were making a scene in the hall.


    Noah hurried to the front and stopped her from hearing his embarrassing moment.


    "Nothing Miss Elsa, we were just wondering what mission we could do together."


    The blonde receptionist nodded and asked again,


    "So, have you decided what mission you guys are doing?"


    At her question, Noah ran to the mission board and took a scroll which he handed to her.


    "This one..."


    Felix was a bit curious about the mission scroll but he waited for them to discuss it first.


    "Hmm, this mission is not bad. You guys together canplete it. Come here I''ll give you the specifics for this."


    She moved to her desk and sat down, bringing some files and items out of the drawer.


    The group stood at the desk and waited for her to brief them on the mission.


    Elsa studied the scroll and various other documents before she handed the scroll back and stated.


    "The mission is simple. Go to the abandoned factory in the eastern part of the city and find if there is anything useful left behind by the previous owner."


    "The things that you find are to be brought back to the guild which would beter delivered to the client. This mission has a reward of 12k tahl. Is that clear?"


    "Yas mam." x6


    Everyone nodded as they understood the details of the mission and Felix also thought that it was a nice and easy mission.


    "Well then. Good luck with the mission and take care of yourselves."


    Miss Elsa bid them bye and turned back to her work.


    The six of them strode toward the door and exited the guild building while nning for their mission.


    "I know the way to the abandoned building so I''ll be leading the way."


    Noah raised his hand enthusiastically and began guiding them out of the gates.


    Without a map in his hand, unlike Felix, he started walking ahead moving through the streets and the alleys as the group traversed together.


    The soft hues of dawn painted an enchanting scene in the city, bringing joy to the people starting their morning. Hawkers and vendors bustled about, setting up their colorful stalls as the streets gradually awakened to the day''s activities.


    The aroma of freshly baked pastries mingled with the sweet scent of flowers, creating an inviting atmosphere that beckoned passersby to explore the bustling market.


    The group of six kids traveled through the city enjoying the moment and made their way toward their destination.


    As they walked, they entered a sparsely popted region in the eastern part of the city as the number of buildings and public grew less.


    They seem to have reached the suburbs of the city where tall grass and trees started to appear with the buzzing of insects.


    The sky started to be slightly dark even though it was in the morning as clouds covered the atmosphere making the temperature cold.


    "Here we are..."


    Noah finally stopped in front of a site from where they could see an abandoned factory inside the closed gates. Crows could be seen flying above the building which made them ufortable.


    "This ce looks like it was uninhabited for a few years."


    Felix voiced out as the building seemed much older than they thought. It was covered with weeds and garbage here and there. The building itself had a lot of moss around its surface.


    The six kids looked at each other unsure of whether to go in or not.


    "Let''s go guys. We can''t just turn back now that we''re all finally here."


    Noah stopped them before they could have second thoughts and entered the gates by himself.


    "Noah be careful, there may be small animals around."


    Shaya called out to him and followed after him not letting him make a mess of things.


    The others followed them into the site as they set foot inside the gates.


    It was a four-story tall factory of grey-colored stones with dark brown patches all over it resulting from decaying and bad maintenance.


    Felix looked at the abandoned building and couldn''t help but think about those horror stories and urban legends of his previous world.


    ''There''s no way this factory is haunted, right?''


    He was not sure himself but he felt like something was observing them from the windows of the building. But whenever he turned to look, nothing was there.


    ''Something feels fishy here, I better stay alert...''


    There was no downside of being alert in an unknown area and that is what he did.


    "Come here everyone, I found the entrance!"


    Noah cheerfully shouted as he waved at others standing near to the walls of the building.


    They approached him as he pushed open the double doors of the factory with both of his hands.


    "Creeeeaak....."

 Chapter 28: Abondoned Factory.

    <h4>Chapter 28: Abondoned Factory.</h4>


    The rusty door creaked eerily as Noah opened it with his full strength.


    A wave of dust flew over the entrance where they were standing from inside the building.


    "Uff, this ce is really dusty."


    Thomas called out as he hurriedly took out a napkin and ced it on his mouth and nose.


    Noah didn''t mind the dust as he just waved his hand over his face and entered the factory through the entrance.


    "Wow, this ce needs a lot of cleaning to do."


    He eximed as the others too followed him and came inside the building. The floor had lots of rubbish so they had to mind where they were stepping and not fall down.


    Shaya and Betty had disgusting expressions on their face as they looked at all the waste inside the factory. It was not something kids of their age were used to be around.


    "Let''s hurry andplete the mission. I don''t want to spend more time in this dirty ce."


    Shaya suggested, to which they all nodded.


    The first floor had a long hall with intersections with other connected rooms. There were some old machines and equipment that were left behind, a perfect hiding ce for rats and roaches.


    "Searching the whole factory will be hard if we all moved together so we will move in different ways and search by ourselves. FIne?"


    Noah nned as everyone nodded and did as he told.


    The six of them separated and moved individually going about the factory searching for useful items.


    Felix chose to go into a room on the right side which seemed to have been a storage room for goods. The room was filled with heavy-looking containers and barrels.


    Observing around the room even going as far as opening thoserge containers, he couldn''t find anything that seemed useful which made him suspicious of this mission.


    ''What can we even find in this abandoned factory except for dust and dirt?''


    He gave up probing around the room after a few minutes and came out to the long hall.


    There he saw the others tooing back while showing their empty hands.


    "I didn''t find anything. What about you guys?"


    Noah asked, to which Shaya replied.


    "Me too. There seems to be nothing on the first floor."


    The others nodded while Thomas shrugged.


    "Maybe we should move on to the second floor now."


    "Yes, that seems to be the only option."


    Noah agreed to his idea as there was nothing of use on the first floor.


    Hearing that they were going to the upper floor, Felix couldn''t help but frown as he felt a bit unsettled about going upstairs.


    He did not voice that out as he didn''t have a valid reason for his suspicion, maybe it could even be his misunderstanding.


    The group agreed to the n and went upstairs using the stairs at the end of the long hall. The wooden stairs creaked when they stepped on it.


    But thankfully, it did not break down as they reached the second floor.


    It was dark here as the floor did not have many windows, unlike the first floor.


    "Whishhh~"


    Kind of cold too as a chill wind blew over them.


    The kids trembled holding their shoulders as the second floor seemed to be unusually chilly.


    "Is it just me? Or do you guys feel cold too"


    Felix asked them out as he felt that the chill must have been because of his scrawny body that was still developing. But he was surprised as the others too held their shoulders and nodded to him.


    "You''re right, it did get much cooler here."


    "It is because there are no windows here?"


    Shaya agreed while Thomas reasoned for a potential answer as to why it suddenly got chill.


    "Let''s not mind the weather guys, we shouldplete the mission first."


    Noah again stopped them from wasting time as he wanted toplete this mission quickly and go out from there. It appeared that he got scared for some reason.


    They shrugged and carried on with what they did on the first floor and separated searching around for things.


    Felix this time chose to walk into a narrow corridor. There was hardly any light there so he could only touch the walls and move forward.


    ''Hmm, I don''t think there''s going to be anything useful even on the second floor.''


    He reached a small chamber with no other way ahead. There was nothing much there, except for some broken chairs and utensils.


    "Booom!"


    Suddenly a loud sound came from downstairs almost shaking the whole building.


    "W-What was that!!"


    Felix panicked at the sound that seemed like an explosion as he hurriedly came out to the main hall of the second floor.


    "Hahaha kids, are you trying to y hiding with us? Sure I''ll love to do that."


    "Kekeke that sounds like fun. Count me in too."


    The kids ran and gathered near the stairs before a crazy shout came from below them.


    The six of them paled when they heard the dark voice of some people. It looked like someone broke into the factory with them being their targets.


    "Oh no! They must be from the enemy guild!"


    Shaya shouted out as she was quick to realize that someone was after them.


    "W-What should we do??"


    Thomas panicked as Betty already seemed to have started crying with her face pale white.


    "This..."


    Noah was not capable of any thoughts as he could only mutter something iprehensible.


    Felix frowned and called out to them.


    "Calm down guys, first of all, we have to hide somewhere."


    He motioned them to quiet down with his finger on his lips and pointed to the stairs leading toward the third floor.


    "Follow me to the third floor."


    He pulled Betty''s and Noah''s hands and moved toward the stairs without making much sound from their steps.


    Kevin nodded and signaled for Shaya and Thomas to run ahead while he stayed at thest. It seemed that he was the second most calm person in the group after Felix.


    The six of them hurriedly moved to the third floor and continued to the stair that led to the fourth floor. They were in a hurry and thus did not realize that it was getting colder the more they went upstairs.


    Stepping onto the fourth floor, Felix calmed himself and looked around for a better hiding ce.


    ''I am the only one who can deal with the enemies, so I must hide them in a covert ce.''


    He knew that they were not going to aid him if he got into a fight with the people that were after them. And for their safety, he chose to hide them on the fourth floor.


    There was arge window on the front side of the floor with the rest of it being in the dark. He ran to the dark side of the floor where there were several rooms and made his way to thest one.


    When everyone got inside the room, he quietly closed the door and fell on the floor with some slight fear.


    "Do you guys have any idea as to who they are and why they are after us?"


    He rxed now that they were far from the intruders and asked the kids.


    "That..."


    "I don''t..."


    All of them shook their heads and calmed themselves down, after seeing Felix being serious unlike them.


    Not getting any answer from them, he narrowed his eyes.


    ''The enemy is unknown to them so it must be some problems with the guild.''


    He wanted as much information as he could as not knowing anything about your opponent was the same as sacrificing your queen for a pawn in chess.


    But unfortunately, he didn''t know anything about them and could onlye to a conclusion by himself.


    ''There must be more than two people who came here, so if I take into ount that they must have separated to find us just like we did.''


    ''Then I can take them out one by one.''


    He already started forming a n in his mind, something that he was used to from getting into fights with many people back on earth.


    Back then, he was fighting over more than ten people while being alone. And he did that not using pure strength but with his sharp mind and strategic thinking.


    He started contemting how to effectively use his weak body and defeat the intruders.


    ''I don''t have any skills that could help with fighting, so I better create a new one.''


    ''System, how many skill points do I have left?''


    [Skill Points: 130]


    ''Nice. Now for a good fighting skill...''


    Felix closed his eyes and imagined what kind of skill he should create to handle the situation.


    ''Think...think...''

 Chapter 29: Prey or Predator? I

    <h4>Chapter 29: Prey or Predator? I</h4>


    Felix was deep in thought as he sat with his back against the door of the room they were hiding in.


    ''I cannot fight them head-on, my only choice is to sneak behind them with ''Earth Swimming'' and ''Silent Steps'' and defeat them in a single strike.''


    He considered his advantages and weakness, then narrowed it down to the fighting skills that could be of use to him at the moment.


    ''Something like one punch kill, but I have a knife with me so that eliminates any hand-to-handbat skills also taking into ount my bony and weak right hand...''


    There were not many skills he could think of using a knife that deals on one strike. But he still imagined and reyed all his knowledge and finally decided on a skill that could be used pretty usefully.


    ''System, create this skill...''


    [Processing the skill''s power scale....grading the skill....estimating the possible points required.....skill sessfully moduled.]


    [Ding!]


    [Skill Name: Ratio Technique


    Description:


    The user can divide his target with ten lines and forcibly create a weak spot at the ratio point of seven to three. Striking at the weak spot generated, it can cause massive damage. This skill can be used on living as well as non-living objects.


    Cost: 60 skill points]


    [Does the host wish to use 60 skill points and create the skill ''Ratio Technique''?]


    Felix frowned when he saw that it was asking for 60 skill points to create the skill. Then he remembered how useful this skill was as it could be helpful for him even in the long run and thus agreed with creating it.


    ''That guy Nan*mi could defeat enemies much stronger than him using this skill and it also doesn''t require much strength. So it''s perfect for me right now.''


    Taking a deep breath, he thought of many other scenarios the skill could help him andmanded in his mind.


    ''Create this skill.''


    [Ding!]


    [Sessfully created a new skill.]


    Felix opened his eyes and looked at Noah who was nkly looking at the ceiling, and then activated his new skill.


    In his vision, there were suddenly grid lines of ten divisions on several parts of Noah''s body. It was on his arms, legs, biceps, torso, and many other parts that he focused on.


    One of the lines from among the ten divisions glowed red which showed the weakest point of that part.


    ''So, that''s how this skill works...It looks the same as in the anime and is pretty helpful for making a single strike attack.''


    He nodded and slowly stood up alerting the kids.


    "Everyone, stay hidden and don''t move from here. I''ll go out and check if they have gone or still looking for us."


    The kids widened their eyes in surprise and tried forbidding him to do that, but before they could voice out their concerns, he opened the door and closed it tightly.


    "Sorry guys, but I''ll have to do this."


    He locked the door as he heard a few bangs from inside the room but ignored it. Taking out the knife from behind his back, he walked to the stairs.


    ''Let''s do it.''


    Clenching his fists, Felix activated his skill ''Silent Steps'' and sneakily moved downstairs. There seems to be no one on the third floor yet so he quickly ran toward the stairs that led to the second floor.


    "Hehe, you kids are pretty fast, already hiding on the second floor huh?"


    Hearing the raspy voiceing from the second floor, he hid near the stairs and slowly peeked out from the third floor.


    He could see anky man wearing ck robes moving about the rooms searching for them.


    ''There seems to be only one of them on the second floor, I better hurry up and defeat him before the otherse.''


    ''System, what rank is he?''


    [The human ahead is of Rank 1.]


    Hearing that the man was of Rank 1, Felix took a deep breath and rid himself of all confusing thoughts.


    He was again taking a life of a human. Last time, it was the pervert guy who wanted to take his cherry and now it was someone who was after him and his friends.


    He was not allowed to make any mistakes as that would cost him the lives of the six of them. Considering the intruders were from the enemy guild, their fate would be anywhere near good.


    ''Focus..., it will be a single strike at the weak point without alerting the others.''


    Peeking out from the stair, he saw that the man was entering a different room. Making sure his skill was activated, Felix hurriedly moved out and sneaked near the room standing at its door.


    Thenky man seemed to be checking around the room opening the cabs and barrels with his back toward the door.


    It was the perfect chance for him to attack so he did not waste any time more and gripped his knife hard.


    Activating his new skill ''Ratio Techniques'', grid lines appeared on the intruder as a red line stood out at its neck.


    Felix took quick steps and ran inside the room without alerting his target.


    The moment he got behind him, he focused on the red point and stabbed the ce with everything he got.


    "Squelch~"


    The knife plunged into the man''s neck with a sickening squelch, apanied by a sharp, tearing sound of bones.


    After stabbing him, Felix took a few steps back as thenky guy slowly turned around with a knife stuck in his neck. He tried to voice out something from his mouth but failed to do so.


    "Aaa...uue...yuu"


    Suddenly his eyes turned upwards and the man fell on his knees beforeying on the floor unconscious.


    Felix pressed his hands on his mouth and held back something that was threatening toe out of his throat.


    It was the second time he took a life, and considering that the first time was something he did to keep his innocence and this time his life, he calmed down.


    ''It''s okay...I''m being forced to do this. I don''t have any other choice.''


    He rxed and tried giving himself a reason for killing the man but his crazy red eyes told a different story.


    Slowly approaching the corpse of thenky man, Felix gripped the knife and took it out as a fleshy sound came from his actions.


    He cleaned the blood of the knife on the man''s clothes and came near the door to check outside.


    Fortunately, no one came upstairs so he had time to n for taking out the remaining intruders.


    Felix left the body and closed the door of the room before again sneaking toward the stairs that led to the third floor and hiding there.


    ''Time for the others toe upstairs.''


    He smiled like a devil thinking it was him that was ying hide and seek with them going as far as taking their lives without a second thought.


    The silver-haired boy waited on the stairs for his next prey toe without realizing that a pair of otherworldly eyes were staring at him with growing interest.

 Chapter 30: Prey or Predator? II

    <h4>Chapter 30: Prey or Predator? II</h4>


    Felix hid on the stairs that led to the third floor and waited for the other intruders toe upstairs on the second floor.


    A few minutes went by when he suddenly heard footsteps from downstairs.


    ''Hmm? There seems to be more than one personing up...''


    He frowned as dealing with two at once was not something he could do right now. If he killed one of them using ''Silent Steps'', then before he could attack the other, he would have noticed him making his stealth skill useless.


    ''I better think of a different n.''


    At this time, the footsteps finally reached the second floor as two men wearing the same ck robe as thatnky man stepped on the floor.


    "Hmm? Where did Wally go?"


    One of the men who was muscr asked curiously as he couldn''t find his teammate who just went upstairs.


    "Who knows? That guy was in a hurry to have some fun with the kids, maybe he is already torturing them about right now."


    The other man who looked a bit fat with arge bellying out of his robe had a twisted grin.


    "Hahaha, you''re right. But we can''t let him have all the fun..."


    Hearing them talk about ''having fun'' and ''torturing'' the kids, Felix felt something snap in his head as he clenched his hand tightly.


    ''These mother*uckers...I won''t let any one of you alive...''


    His previous concerns about whether to kill them or not vanished as only wrath was left inside his mind.


    He had no other choice now because if he failed to defeat them, then these guys would surely make their lives a living hell.


    Now that both of them were on the second floor, they searched aroundzily not even showing any caution or worry.


    For them, this mission was as easy as drinking water. They just had to deal with a bunch of kids who were out on their mission of exploring an abandoned building on the outskirts of the city with less to no public.


    ''This won''t do...I gotta separate them and deal with them before they found the corpse of the other guy.''


    Felix bit his lips and rapidly thought of a n to do that. After a few seconds, he was ready as his eyes gleamed and decided on his next course of action.


    Rxing down, he activated his skill ''Earth Simming'' as his body started liquefying. The stairs started to wobble like a wave as his whole body sank into it without leaving a trace of his existence.


    Swimming in the solid of the floor, he came downstairs with his head poked out and sneakily peeked at the two men.


    Seeing that they were busy going around together while chatting, he looked at the deepest part of the second floor before swimming there.


    Reaching the corner at a quiet ce, he slowly came out and kicked several of the barrels making a lot of noise before again going back into the ground.


    The two men perked up their ears when they heard the noise and smiled at each other. The fat man was quick to raise his hands as he licked his lips and stopped the other man from going.


    "Well, how about you leave that rat to me and look for the others? You know I like having fun all alone."


    The muscr man twitched his lips as he shook his head at his ramblings.


    "Do whatever you want. Just make sure you do the job properly."


    "Of course, I''ll do that. You don''t have to worry about it."


    He couldn''t wait any longer as he grinned at the thought of ying with the kid and hurriedly ran to where the noise came from.


    Felix remained hidden from their vision and peeked at the two of them from inside the ground. When the fat man ran deeper into the second floor, he gave a smile and swam in the solid to follow him.


    Eventually, the fat man reached the corner where he stopped inside a room and searched for the kid.


    "Ohe on now. I already know you are hiding here."


    He teased while rubbing his hands, stretching his short neck to look behind the barrels. The ce looked disorderly with many boxes and barrels thrown down, so he had to bend down and put them to the side for a better view at the hiding ''kid''.


    With the fat man now showing clear carelessness with his heavy body bent, Felix did not hesitate and poked his full head out activating his skill.


    Grid lines started appearing on the fat man''s body with a prominent red line on the left part of his torso.


    ''Here goes another kill..''


    Making sure to again activate ''Silent Steps'', he came out of the solid floor with his knife stabbing forward while the fat man remained bent down to put away the barrels that were thrown down.


    Felix quickly reached his target and stabbed the knife right into the red line of the seemingly careless and unguarded fat body. With the pain spreading from the inside of his torso, the fat man finally realized that a foreign object had entered him.


    The pain of his guts being stabbed made him fall to his knee as he turned to stare at his attacker while letting out a shout.


    "Khaaaah!! Aaaaagh!!"


    His previous yfulness disappeared when he saw that the kid he was supposed to have ''fun'' with had stabbed him with a knife, that too deep in his weak spot.


    Seeing the fat man dropping down and shouting a lot, Felix frowned.


    ''Shit! The other man must have been alerted by that shout.''


    Not wasting any more time in handling the situation, he raised his small leg and kicked the fat man right on his face with the soles of his shoe prating his eyes as indicated by the red lines.


    The man could not react to the kick as he was busy removing the knife which he thought must have been a lucky attempt of the kid. And that resulted in his eyes getting a direct hit from a fast kick.


    "Aaackk!"


    Squealing like a pig, he held his eyes that seemed to have sunken inside the sockets with blood escaping from between his fingers.


    Felix did not give him a single second to recover as he raised his leg again and kicked at the red line that appeared on the fat man''s neck.


    "Crack~!"


    That was thest sounding from the fat man as he fell face-first on the floor with his body slowly turning cold.


    Seeing the fat man falling down very likely dead, Felix took some breaths to rx his tired body before he started hearing hurried footsteps from outside the room.


    Again activating his skill, he quickly submerged inside the floor and vanished from the scene. Not forgetting to move under the fat man''s corpse and take back his knife that was pierced into his torso.


    And the moment he did that, the other man entered the room.


    "What-?"


    Looking at the corpse of his teammate lying on the floor with a pool of blood, his eyes widened in shock. He took a step back and cautiously surveyed the room.


    There was no one except the body of his dead friend, with barrels thrown around the room making it messy.


    "W-Who did this? There''s nobody here though..."


    While swimming inside the floor, Felix moved near the man who was still confused with the turn of events.


    He peeked out from the corner of the room and nced at the man who was walking toward the corpse. The man kneeled down and turned around the body to check whether his friend was still alive or not.


    ''NOW!''


    Felix rushed out from the ground activating the skill ''Ratio technique'' and shed his knife at the man who was oblivious to the fact that there was somebody else in the room.

 Chapter 31: Strange Presence.

    <h4>Chapter 31: Strange Presence.</h4>


    Targeting the red line on the third intruder''s body, Felix''s knife stabbed deeply on its back.


    "Tsssch~"


    The sound of piercing flesh resounded as the man flinched in pain at the sudden attack. He hurriedly turned around with a horrible expression and noticed a silver-haired boy trying to get away.


    "Y-You..."


    He stood up angrily not giving a chance and kicked at the boy who was thinking of escaping after dealing him an attack.


    Felix tried to dodge the kick but the man was faster as his legs strongly hit his stomach. The force of the kick blew him away as his back hit against the wall.


    "Kuff-"


    He coughed out blood and looked terrifyingly at the man who was standing tall with a malevolent face.


    "You fucking rat were you the one who killed him?"


    The man''s hideous face turned painful as he clutched the knife from his back and tossed it away letting his blood fall on the floor.


    "Nice luck but it all ends here....."


    He turned back to stare at Felix and slowly walked toward him taking out a de from inside his robes while keeping his back straight.


    Staring at the man who was about to kill him, Felix looked around the room in panic and racked his brains for a n.


    ''There''s no way I can fight him head-on...that means I''ve to run away and find another opportunity to strike.''


    Quicklying up with a n, Felix held his stomach and stood up before dashing out of the room with all his leftover energy.


    The man just shook his head and gave chase to the injured boy who thought he could outrun him. But the moment he came out of the room, he stood there petrified as the boy was nowhere to be seen.


    "W-What? But how?...."


    He had no idea how the boy whom he kicked hard on the stomach could run so fast that he just vanished when they came out of the room.


    While the man paced around, the ground beneath him had slight waves that he could not feel as he was busy looking for any trace of the boy.


    When Felix swam through the floor and finally reached right behind the man, he slowly peeked out and activated the ''Ratio Technique'' skill.


    Staring at the red line, he took a deep breath, activated ''Silent Steps'', and slowly came out from the ground.


    This time the point of weakness was on his neck, so he had to hold the knife with both of his hands and strike in an upwards direction.


    With the slight increase in speed from the stealth skill, he quickly reached the intruder only for the man to turn around at thest moment.


    Felix did not stop, no, it was more like he could not stop. The man widened his eyes at the gradually nearing edge of the sharp knife and tried to stop it from reaching him by punching quickly at the boy.


    "Pllukkhhhh!~"


    But it seemed nobody wished him luck on this mission as the knife stabbed deeply from under his jaws and crushed the inwards of his head.


    Even though he was already dead from the strike, his hand remained in motion and heavily punched the fearless boy on the chin.


    Felix again blew away from the hit and crashed on the ground while the man stood still for a second and fell back with a thud. Barely having any energy left to stand, he peeked at the corpse of the intruder and let out a sigh.


    "F-Finally, it''s over....."


    His mind suddenly started getting hazy from the pain in his head and he slowly lost consciousness lying on the cold floor.


    A deep silence issued on the floor as it gradually started getting freezing cold.


    When the fight ended with no movements, ck mist seeped about in the scene as the only spectator of the fight revealed itself.


    "Kekekeke....To think I would get to witness such an amusing fight after such a long time. Also, what was that ability from the little boy."


    An eery androgynous voice sounded which seemed it could sway the mind of the weak-willed.


    The dark mist gathered around and formed a creepy shadow that looked irregr in shape. It just had two otherworldly ck eyes that sucked every light in the surroundings.


    It floated above the floor and changed its shape into many forms as it flew toward the boy on the ground.


    "But still....those silver hair of the boy reminds me of someone. Hmmm.....who was it?"


    The shadow stared intensely at the boy in deep thoughts but then it just shrugged with its gassy ''shoulders'' in the end.


    "Ugh whatever, I don''t remember much of the past though. Kekeke I must be getting old, but wait do I even grow old?"


    Tilting its head, the shadow narrowed its eyes before giving up finding an answer to his stupid question.


    "Sigh, there''s no point in living for so many years when I don''t remember anything and can''t even find any answers to my questions."


    The shadow turned back to look at the unconscious boy and its ck eyes shone bright like it found what he was looking for.


    "Well, for now, I think I can find my answers by being around this kid. He has those weird abilities so he must be capable of achieving a lot in his life."


    With no other choice, the shadow circled around the kid before it became small and attached itself to the left ear of Felix in the form of a ck earring.


    The floor again turned into absolute silence as the fate of the young boy remains untold in the grand scheme of the world.


    *****


    Noah and the kids were scared when Felix ran out alone. They thought he was going to get himself caught and let them safe.


    But they did not want that to happen, so unwilling of just sitting in the room doing nothing to save their friend, the five of them pushed against the the old rusty door.


    Even the thin Thomas and shy Betty pushed their small bodies and hit the door


    After 10 minutes, they sessfully broke open the rusty door when Kevin put his body to it''s limits and hit the door.


    Coming out of the room, the five kids ran out and searched for Felix and the intruders.


    They could not find any trace of him on the fourth floor, so they went doinstairs to the third floor then the second floor where they saw him lying on the ground unconscious.


    "FELIX!!"


    Noah couldn''t stop himself from crying when he saw that his new friend was injured with blood on his body.


    The rest too had expressions of grief but when they looked at the grotesque way the man was killed, they were shocked and started vomiting at the scene.


    Noah turned back to see the corpse finally and his face paled but he tried to hold it in.


    He had already checked that Felix was alive with his heart beating but he was severely injured on his head and stomach. Now they had to quickly bring back Felix to the guild before it was toote and more enemies appeared.


    "Kevin,e here quick and carry Felix. We can''t stay at this ce anymore."


    He called out to Kevin with a red face still overwhelmed with all that was happening but he knew staying at the factory any longer was not a good idea.


    Kevin carried Felix on his back and the kids did not waste any more time, hurriedly moving out of the abandoned factory and going back to the guild building.


    They ran away under the strange gazes of the public who only thought that a bunch of kids were running in panic without having the slightest inkling of what kind of hell they had just been through.

 Chapter 32 Aftermaths.

    Chapter 32 Aftermaths.


    "Ughhh..."


    An exhausted groan escaped the lips of a boy who was bandaged around his body.


    Felix woke with his eyes slowly getting used to the lights from the zing sun rays that sneaked through the windows inside the room.


    nkly staring at the ceiling, his hazy mind started working on knowing the situation. But a series of sounds disturbed him from his rest.


    [Ding!]


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank]


    [You have gained 10 skill points]


    He jolted awake at the continuous alerts and finally remembered what happened at the group mission.


    "W-Where am I?"


    He turned nced around in panic and found himself inside his room in the guild building and sighed in relief.


    "So we sessfully ran away from them...."


    Felix was actually not sure if there were only three intruders or more, but considering now that he was back in his room meant that there were no other enemies and the kids were all safe.


    He remembered how he killed those three men and traced his hand over his face. Feeling the bandage over his face, he came down from the bed and stood in front of the mirror slowly removing it.


    Surprisingly, there was no wound or injury, especially considering the punch he was hit that made him pass out. Even touching it did not hurt him but he was sure that it was paining badly before he lost consciousness.


    "How is that possible...."


    Felix also removed the bandage covering his stomach and found no injury there too. His mind was shocked before he remembered that there was magic in this world, unlike the crazy expensive but useless healthcare from Earth.


    "It seems that the guild used some magic and treated me."


    He felt thankful for joining a guild that healed him but then remembered the mission where their enemies came to catch them which made him frown.


    "How could the guild give us such a mission? Did the details of the mission get leaked or....."


    His expression turned from suspicion to seriousness as he thought about why they could be targeted when they were just a bunch of kids.


    While contemting, his eyes went to the mirror and he suddenly noticed a ck earring on his left ear.


    "Huh? What is this?"


    Completely confused with this new essory in the form of an earring ced on his left ear, he touched it.


    The earring felt cold, its intricated design was astonishing with thin red engravings slightly glowing in the dark. Felix tried removing it carefully, but it did not budge or move out from his ear lobe no matter how much he pulled.


    "It looks cool and all but....how did it get on my ear out of nowhere?"


    He narrowed his eyes and stared speechless at the ck small earring that looked nice to wear especially contrasting with his shiny silver hair and red eyes.


    It almost looked like someone clearly chose that design to go with his appearance.


    Felix shook his head as he knew he wouldn''t get any answer right now and decided to ask others about it. There were more pressing matters at hand he thought and called out to the system.


    "Anyways, System show me my status."


    [Ding!]


    [Status]


    [Name: Felix] n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    [Race: Human]


    [Age: 15]


    [Mage Cultivation: Rank 0]


    [Warrior Cultivation: Rank 0]


    [Talent: ¡ï¡ï ]


    [State: Healthy but stillcking nutrients to grow.]


    [Skills: Silent Steps, shback, Earth Swimming, Ratio Technique.]


    [Skill Points: 100]


    Looking at the status shown by the system, Felix rubbed his chin and mused.


    ''Hmm, my state looks good now but I need to eat more to grow. As for the skills, these four are nice overall but I should make a goodbat skill sometimeter with the remaining 100 points.....''


    He sat on the bed and contemted for his next course of action when suddenly his stomach groaned.


    "Oh, it''s time already?"


    Getting up, he freshened himself up in the bathroom and walked out of the room. Entering the dining hall, he looked around before filling up a te full of lunch food and sat at a nearby table eating alone.


    Eating something like a mix of non-veg stew and soup with brown pieces of bread and a ss of berry-vored juice, Felix enjoyed the meal without lifting his face from the te.


    After finishing the hearty lunch and letting out a burp, he left the dining hall and went downstairs to the reception hall.


    He could not see anyone in the hall, so being all alone he decided to sit on the sofas and wait for Miss Elsa.


    "Where did everyone go?"


    It was strange that there was no one in the hall and now that he remembers, even the dining hall was empty but he didn''t notice it while eating happily.


    With nothing to do, Felix nced around the hall when suddenly he decided to look around the ce. He stood up and walked to the mission board and browsed through the mission scrolls.


    "Is it just me or there are fewer scrolls on the board?"


    Compared to yesterday, there were very less amount of scrolls on the board which confused him. There was no way suddenly a lot of missions gotpleted so it means that the scrolls themselves were removed for various reasons.


    He stared at the board for a few seconds when his eyes lit up remembering a skill in his possession.


    "I should use shback on it....."


    Smiling at his convenient way of getting answers, he ced his hand on the mission board and activated his skill.


    ''Buzz....Buzz.....Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzz''


    The static noise resounded inside his head before low voices spoke out.


    "Make sure to remove the recent submissions. They have a high chance of being false."


    "Yes Mam."


    Felix heard Miss Elsa order around some workers to take down the mission scrolls and continue.


    "We cannot make a mistake here as the guild leader himself was angry at us for what we have done."


    She sounded angry and tensed but did not stop moving about as her heels made rapid footstep sounds. Suddenly another panicked voice came from near the stairs that stopped her.


    "M-Miss Elsa, this....."


    It looked troubled and strange when the voice of a young worker stuttered showing he was confused with whatever that was happening.


    "What is it? Don''t waste my time here and quickly say it!"


    Elsa got angry and shouted at the worker, who gulped in fear and replied slowly.


    "The Guild Leader issued a meeting for discussing....war."


    Felix could only hear Miss Elsa taking a deep breath before all voices died down.


    He opened in eyes wide when he listened to their conversation especially at the end and also took a deep breath just like the receptionist.


    "Are you for real? A war..."


    What he did not know was that it was just the beginning of the great upheaval that wouldter serve to only make the fame of a certain silver-haired boy reach throughout the kingdom.


    As for whether the fame was made from infamy, or from honour, it will remain a mystery for all.

 Chapter 33: Impending War.

    War.


    It wasn''t something Felix was familiar with.


    Yes, he had heard a lot about all the wars going about in his previous world but fortunately, he was in the peaceful part of the world and thus never experienced it himself.


    Even though he partook in many fights in the neighborhood and made trouble by injuring many people, it was not that serious with no one actually losing their lives.


    But the notion of ''war'' was a lot more different than that. It was a fight where a lot of people would get involved and the majority of them would die without even resisting.


    So when he heard that the guild leader was issuing a meeting for war, Felix felt unwilling to believe that.


    Just today, he went through something that could take his life if he was a bit careless. It was now fine as he defeated the enemies and had already recovered, but what if he was not that lucky the next time?


    He contemted the matter of a potential war with a frown.


    ''I don''t think they would involve the unofficial members for a war but considering I already showed them that I could handle Rank 1 warriors, I''m not sure what they would do with me.''


    That was what he was worried about. Now that he clearly disyed his power by killing the three enemies while being at Rank 0, he didn''t know what the guild would decide on.


    He sighed in resignation but didn''t think it was a bad choice to have taken down those intruders. Because if he hadn''t done so, then all the six of them would be nothing more than toys in the hands of their enemy.


    Suddenly, he heard a lot of noiseing from the stairway as many members of the guild came down while chatting with each other. Their expressions were a mix of excitement and bloodlust as their loud footsteps echoed in the big hall.


    Some of them noticed Felix standing at the reception and smiled with a certain look in their eyes. Among them, a grinning blonde-haired boy also walked down and made his way toward the reception.


    "Hey, Felix! I heard you killed some members of our enemy guild on your mission."


    There was a look of respect on his face as he didn''t expect a small kid with such a weak body could take out such strong warriors.


    Felix looked at him and remembered he was one of those three boys from yesterday and also the little brother of Miss Elsa whose name was Roven.


    "Oh, that.....Umm, I didn''t mean to. It was....."


    He didn''t know what to reply and ended up stuttering when Roven casually mentioned killing people with an enthusiastic face.


    "It was amazing!"


    But Roven thought otherwise and held Felix''s hands with stars in his eyes and spoke in excitement.


    "To think you could defeat three Rank 1 warriors all by yourself even though you''re only at Rank 0. Do you even know how amazing that is?"


    His voice turned loud as the other members who were around them nodded their heads in agreement and cheered him.


    "You did a nice job, kid."


    "Not bad for a neer."


    "Right haha, I wish I could have joined you."


    For them, it would not be that hard to defeat those simple buffoons but considering the kid was so weak and thin, it was a miracle how he could do it. As they were all from the same guild, they didn''t feel inferior but thought it was great for such a capable kid to be amongst them.


    Felix became embarrassed when all of them congratted him for killing people but he epted theirpliments with a smile and nodded happily at them.


    "Ah that, thank you very much haha."


    Even Eric and Steve who were among the crowd looked at each other before shrugging and smiling themselves.


    In the midst, Felix suddenly recalled the others and asked Roven.


    "Oh Roven, do you know where Noah and the others are?"


    The boy rubbed his chin deliberating before he shook his head and wanted to speak but an alluring voice interrupted him.


    "Felix, you don''t have to worry. Noah and the others are safe but they are currently resting at their homes."


    He turned toward the stairs and sighed in relief hearing Miss Elsa say that the kids were fine. If something bad happened to them, then his efforts would have been for nothing.


    Elsa reached the reception and told all the members to go back to their work before lightly hugging Felix. His head which reached only 150cm got buried in her soft chest as she slowly patted his head.


    "I was worried when you got injured but everything''s fine now that you are alright."


    Surprised at the sudden closeness, his face turned slightly red as her body was fragrant and smelled nice. He felt he could fall asleep again on her soft mountains but before he could actually do that, she released him and stepped back.


    Eric and Steve went back to chat with others and only Roven remained who smiled weirdly looking at the grinning boy who had just been hugged by his sister.


    ''Really? She is that kind? But she never treated me good...''


    "Cough cough"


    Felix broke out from his stupor and coughed hiding his embarrassment. He then looked at her seriously and changed the topic when he remembered what he heard in the shback.


    "Miss Elsa, will our guild go to war now?"


    The sibling duo widened their eyes and appeared surprised that the boy could already guess what was happening. They thought he was smart and analytical for someone for his age and nodded inwardly.


    Elsa stared at Felix while crossing her arms and turned serious as well before muttering in a low voice.


    "Hmm, you are right. The guild leader just ended the discussion and decided to wage war on our enemy guilds."


    Now it was Felix''s turn to be surprised as his voice stuttered loudly.


    "G-Guilds?? You mean there''s more than one enemy guild?"


    Roven interjected quickly and nodded at the stunned boy.


    "Yes, but it''s not like we went around and made enemies. Instead, they were the ones who were doing something bad while we only stopped them."


    Elsa wanted to smack her little brother''s head for interrupting but she also nodded with a pout when she heard what he saidter.


    "Indeed, we have more than one enemy guild but that isn''t something to worry about, because we''re strong enough to hold them back from doing anything.", she scoffed.


    Hearing both of them vouch for their guild didn''t calm down Felix as he felt the need to grow stronger and not be at the mercy of his enemies.


    Bing a ve once was already a terrible feeling and after escaping from that hellhole, he didn''t want to experience getting the losing end of the stick ever again.


    ''It seems I have to focus on getting stronger to protect myself from this cursed fate of getting in trouble every time.''


    Making up his mind, Felix asked the receptionist.


    "Miss Elsa, what should I do in this war? Will I take part in the fights or.....?"


    The blonde-haired duo looked at each other and stared back at the frowning small boy who was clenching his hands with an intense look in his eyes.


    They didn''t know if it was their mistake but his eyes were glowing eerily with a tinge of anticipation.


    Elsa narrowed her eyes and considered the matter while walking to her seat behind the reception desk. She was not sure whether to let Felix join the war or just leave him out.


    "Felix, I think you should...."

 Chapter 34: Promotion and Rewards.

    Elsa pondered for some time and spoke out uncertainly.


    "Felix, I think you should not take part in the war."


    Her blue eyes remained on his tiny body as she refused him to join the war while he frowned feeling dejected. He was sure he didn''t want to partake in the war but when she directly refused him, it felt odd as if something important was getting away from him.


    Unaware of why he was feeling like that, he clenched his hands and asked her in a puzzled tone.


    "But Miss Elsa, I can already defeat Rank 1 warriors...And if I get stronger I think I can participate in the war."


    Even though earlier he thought it was a bad decision to join the war, considering his weak body. His mind told him that only by getting into risky situations and facing many battles would he be able to grow stronger.


    Elsa looked at him insisting on joining the war and frowned but he remained standing there with a stubborn expression and did not budge. Atst, she sighed in defeat and rubbed her forehead.


    "Alright, you can join if you insist so much."


    Felix smiled happily and wanted to thank her but she replied before he could do that.


    "But before you join, there''s something important you have to do."


    "Important?", he asked raising his brows.


    Elsa smiled mysteriously as she got up from her seat and walked toward the stairs.


    "Come follow me, I''ll tell you while we walk there."


    "Umm okay."


    He did as she told and followed her leaving Roven behind who just shrugged and went back to his friends. He already had an idea of what was about to happen and didn''t want to ruin it by being there.


    They went upstairs to the second floor and continued to the third floor. This was the first time he came here so he curiously looked around the floor.


    "After you have shown nice merits by defeating strong enemies, the guild decided to make you an official member, which means you''ll now be allowed to enter the third floor and above."


    Elsa smiled at the boy and dropped a sudden surprise to which he stood frozen.


    "I-I''m going to be an official member now?"


    He asked in shock as he thought only people who were Rank 1 and above would be able to be official members.


    "Yes. You''ve already proved to be worthy in the previous mission. So, as a reward, the guild will promote you to an official member and you''ll also get a free cultivation manual."


    "A cultivation manual?"


    It was another shock when he heard he was going to get a cultivation manual. He didn''t know what exactly it was but he guessed it was something rted to bing warriors and mages.


    ''Damn, seems like it was the right decision to kill those bastards.''


    She continued walking deeper inside the floor and exined.


    "Yes, a cultivation manual. But before that, we have to test your aptitude for aura and mana. There are two main professions for fighting, Warriors and Mages, which respectively use aura and mana in their power system."


    "There are other professions too but they are not the mainstream and only specially talented people choose them."


    Felix nodded and followed her until they arrived in front of a heavy and thick-looking green door. There was arge wooden te attached to it that said ''Inventory''.


    Taking out a card from the inside of her robe, Elsa swiped it on the evil eye diagram on the door simr to that of the main door of the guild building. The door opened with a glowing green on its edges and the interior of the room could be seen.


    "This is our main inventory where most of the guild possessions and materials are kept."


    Felix stood there speechless staring at the shining materials that made it look more like a treasure room. Elsa smiled and broke him out of his stupor then motioned him to enter.


    She walked inside with him following behind and closed the door again with the card. While Felix looked around the room curiously, she went ahead and took out a cylindrical ss with some liquid inside.


    Staring at the swords, shields, and various other weapons and materials present in the room, his eyes finally fell on the weird ss in Elsa''s hand and questioned curiously.


    "What is this? A weapon?"


    "Haha, it''s not a weapon, but an artifact that you''ll use to check your potential and aptitude."


    "Oh..."


    Elsa shook her head and ced the ss vertically on a table nearby before saying.


    "Come here, hold this end of the artifact, and concentrate your mind there."


    He nodded and ced his right hand on the upper end of the artifact. It felt cold to touch while his mind suddenly felt fresh holding it.


    "Like this?"


    "Yes, now close your eyes and try moving your body''s whole concentration towards it."


    Felix listened to her and closed his eyes. He felt something move inside his body and slowly get attracted toward his right hand that was grabbing the ss. Feeling that he was doing it right, he focused on moving more of it until he heard Miss Elsa stop him.


    "Okay, you can stop now."


    He opened his eyes while releasing his hand from the ss and stared at it. The strange liquid inside the ss had turned dark while slightly increasing in quantity.


    Elsa stared at the artifact for a few seconds with a frown before sighing and telling him the results.


    "Unfortunately, it seems that you have no mana inside of your body but there''s still hope as you have an average potential in aura."


    ''What? No mana?''


    Felix''s eyes turned bleak when he heard he had no mana inside his body. He knew what it meant to have no mana. It basically means he had no way of bing a mage.


    A mage. Someone who could cast magic and do wonders. That was the first thing that came to anyone''s mind when they heard fantasy. And now that he was in a fantasy world, ofcourse he would want to be able to do magic and be a mage.


    But it seems his terrible fate did not even allow him to do that.


    His mind was on an emotional roller coaster thinking about theck of mana until he remembered he had a system of creating skills.


    ''Right! I can just create a skill to have mana and the problem is solved.''


    His previous downcast expression turned jolly as a smile surfaced on his face.


    Elsa stared at the cute boy''s face and thought he must have been heartbroken hearing he had no mana but then regained his vigor after knowing he could train as a warrior.


    She praised the boy inside her mind for his willpower and promised herself to take good care of him until he grew stronger. She then moved toward a wooden rack and took out a book from there before giving it to Felix.


    "Here, this is a basic manual for aura training. You''ll have toprehend and practice that manual. Also, if you have any doubts, you cane ask me."


    He held the manual in his hands in anticipation and thanked her.


    "Thank you Miss Elsa for giving this."


    He was back to pretending to be cute and showed good manners in front of her by smiling happily at her.


    "Don''t thank me. It was something you achieved yourself."


    She also smiled at him and continued.


    "Alright now that you have got the manual for cultivation. It''s time for you to choose a weapon, unlike that knife of yours.", she teased him at the end while smirking in amusement.


    "O-Oh, that knife was something I.....umm yes kept for safety.", he panicked at lying but he wasn''t sure what to tell her.


    "It''s fine, I''m not ming you for hiding that weapon. In fact it was a great decision to have hidden a knife because it helped you deal with unforeseen circumstances. So basically you did a good job."


    Felix scratched his head and just awkwardly smiled.


    ''Well, I should leave that knife and choose a new weapon now that they are giving me one.''


    "Would you prefer a simr type of weapon as that knife or do you want to choose any other weapon?"


    He started thinking when she asked him about his choice of his weapon before replying.


    "I would prefer something simr but a bit longer than that knife."


    Elsa nodded before moved toward the weaponpartment and chose a weapon.


    "How about this?"


    In her hand was a short sword of around 50cm that looked like a wakizashi of Japan from Earth. It had a pure ck sheath with a red hilt and silver mirror-like de. The short sword had a sharp edge on one side and a thin t edge on the other side.


    The moment Felix looked at the weapon, his eyes gleamed and he unconsciously moved his hand to hold it.


    "Miss Elsa, I think this sword suits me a lot better."


    He excitedly held the weapon and examined it in his hands.


    "Well, as long as you like it."


    Elsa decided in her mind and moved toward the hidden safe in the corner and took out a rusty old book after swiping another card at it. Here, they kept some of their important techniques and it was not given that easily to the members unless they contributed a lot to the guild.


    Actually, a neer like Felix was not allowed to receive it but she was the receptionist and thus had the authority to do as she saw fit.


    "Also, take this. You can''t be swinging that sword randomly, so this sword art will help you understand how to efficiently use it in a fight."


    She handed the book to Felix of which he read the title on the rusty cover.


    "The ck Horizon Sword Arts?"

 Chapter 35: Sword Arts.

    "The ck Horizon Sword Arts?"


    Felix asked with a curious expression on his face. He looked at the rusty unimpressive grey book in his hands and decided not to judge it from its cover.


    "Yes, this sword art is suitable for beginners to get to know the basics and methods to use a short sword in a fight."


    Elsa looked uncertainly at the rusty book before voicing out again.


    "Well, for your information, this book was actually unearthed from the ruins of a faraway kingdom by some higher-up members of our guild. But because it was iplete, it was sent here in the inventory and treated as an ordinary sword manual."


    He nodded and raised a question he was puzzled about.


    "By the way, are there any ranking for such sword arts and manuals? I remember you saying that the aura cultivation manual was called basic. So are there other grades of it too?"


    Elsa hit her forehead lightly with her fist and smiled wryly.


    "Sorry, it seems I forgot to mention it to you."


    She turned back into her serious mode and started exining what he asked.


    "Basically, there are five grades for manuals as well as weapons. From the weakest to the strongest, they are; Common, Umon, Rare, Epic, and Legendary. All the grades are further divided into low, high, and peak subgrades."


    "The knife you previously had was a lowmon grade weapon while your new short sword is of high umon grade."


    She stopped and contemted for a few seconds before muttering.


    "As for that sword art, it''s an iplete manual from a ruin, so its true value is uncertain, and therefore it''s only graded at peak umon."


    Felix processed all the information and realized that the knife he was using before was not that impressive just at the ordinary grade, but considering it was a weapon that he stole from some worker of a ve trader, it was understandable.


    He felt thankful for the rewards the guild gave as he held the short sword in his hands tightly, and looked at ''The ck Horizon Swort Arts'' manual. Both of them were of nice quality at the umon grade.


    "Is there anything else you want to know about?", Elsa asked crossing her arms.


    Felix narrowed his eyes over his new weapon and asked.


    "Can you tell me more about the war? Like our enemy guilds and other details."


    She raised her brow and shook her head at his request.


    "No. You are still not ready yet. Only after you sessfully attain aura and train the sword arts will I tell you more about the war. Until then, you''ll have to grow stronger in order to face the uing events."


    Her tone was stern while refusing him to get anywhere near the topic of war.


    In her opinion, he was only lucky to have killed the three enemies because they underestimated him as a kid. Whereas on the other hand, a war with several guilds fighting would not be easy for a kid to handle.


    Felix held back his groan when she refused to answer him but he quickly asked her another question changing the topic, afraid that she would not allow him to participate in the war in the end at all.


    "Then what will I do after I be an official guild member?"


    She replied while shrugging.


    "Well, you can join a team andplete missions together with them. Most of our missions need to go out of the city, and considering the details of the missions are kept a secret, I don''t think you''ll be targeted by the enemy guilds."


    Knowing what he''d do after bing an official member, he noted it in his head.


    "Okay, I think I should get back to my work. You can go to your room and train from now on. Missions for the unofficial members are temporarily closed, so you cannot do that. So spend this time to grow stronger to be suitable for you to join a team."


    She walked back to the door, opened it with her card, and left the room with Felix behind.


    "As you are an official member now, the third floor which has the trading hall for guild members and training rooms will be avable to you."


    "The fourth floor is for guild meetings and research while the fifth floor is used for other activities like alchemy, formations, and rituals. But the sixth floor and the seventh floor are still off limits for you as the higher-ups of the guild including me live there."


    Elsa kind of boasted herself in the end but continued moving back to the stairs while swaying her flirtatious hips.


    He understood about everything she said and walked behind her until they reached the second floor.


    "Well, I''ll be going back to my work while you should go train in your room. If you have any doubts, do not hesitate to ask my help."


    She grinned and balled up her fist in a threatening yet cute manner.


    "I may not like it, but I''m a really strong fighter with aura."


    Felix twitched his lips and did not refuse her help.


    "Thank you, Miss Elsa, I''ll be going now."


    He waved his hands and quickly moved toward his room holding both the new rewards with a smile on his face.


    ''I can finally train to be strong now.''


    Now that he had a manual to train his aura, he could finally be a warrior and say goodbye to his weak body. As for bing a mage? He was not in a hurry to create a skill to attain mana, because even if he wanted to, he knew he could not afford it.


    That''s why he was thrilled to have finally found a way to strengthen his body and work on training aura for bing a warrior. With the weak body that he had right now there would be no Felix in this world if not for the skills he created with the system.


    And to get more skill points, he would have to get stronger and kill other beings. Sure, he killed many monsters and four humans until now, but that was all by using tricks and weird skills. If he were to fight one-on-one with any one of them then without the use of his skill ''Silent Steps'', he wouldn''t get to catch them off guard.


    Also, while fighting, if his enemies get to know about his skills, they will also realize their weaknesses and remain prepared for them. So, having the strength and the use of aura would help him achieve much more than he could do now.


    He also wanted to join a team and start doing missions, which was why he was in a hurry to grow stronger, or else he would be left behind when the guild fought the war.


    It was kind of crazy how he wanted to take part in the war considering he was a normal modern person a few days ago, but the experiences he had after transmigrating changed his mindset and made his old tendencies of getting into trouble reappear.


    The subtle oppressive influence of society and the world from his previous life was slowly getting removed from his consciousness. The freedom from very and struggles made him feel liberated as his whole body radiated joy and radiance as proof of his smiling face.


    Opening the door to his room with his card, he entered the room and closed the door locked in a hurry.


    His face gleaming with excitement, he kept the short sword leaning beside the closet and sat on the chair while ncing at the aura manual in his hands.


    Taking a gulp, he ced the book on the desk in front of him and slowly opened the first page.


    "Here we go....."

 Chapter 36: Foreboding.

    The moment Felix turned the first page of the aura cultivation manual on the table, his eyes turned wide in confusion.


    "What the hell even is this?"


    Laid before him, the book was written in a text he had never seen nor heard of in his life.


    His earlier excitementpletely died down as he speechlessly stared at the unfamiliarnguage in the book and sighed.


    "This is not Earth, so ofcourse it won''t be written in English or any othernguage.", he scratched the back of his head and though more about it.


    ''Wait, if thenguage here is different, then how can I talk with everyone just fine?''


    He got confused and called out the system.


    "System, can you tell me how I can converse with everyone in this world normally when I don''t even know theirnguage?"


    [Answering the host. The system has a built-in function that allows the host to converse with any sentient being in their ownnguage.]


    Felix was impressed with the system as it could let him talk with anyone who knew how to speak.


    "Wow, I didn''t know you were that useful."


    He sarcastically praised the system that never helped him except for creating skills.


    "Anyways, can you also create a skill that lets me read any texts from anguage?", he imagined the power and ability of such a skill.


    [Processing the skill''s power scale....grading the skill....estimating the possible points required.....skill sessfully modules.]


    [Ding!]


    [Skill Name: Universal Reader.


    Description:


    There are countlessnguages in the universe and this skill allows the user to understand and read everynguage that he encounters.


    Cost: 20000 skill points.]


    "What!!??"


    He read the description and let out a shout when he saw the high cost of the skill.


    "System, don''t you think twenty thousand is a lot of skill points for this skill?", he couldn''t help but question the system about the abyssal amount of skill points required to learn the skill.


    [Does the host not understand? This skill allows you to read everynguage there is in the universe and such a feat is not something a mortal could ever achieve in their life. So, the cost of this skill is fair.]


    "Maybe you''re right."


    Felix sighed and also realized that the skill to read and understand everynguage was a lot more impressive than he had previously thought.


    Imagine you could read all the books in the world and gain knowledge. Even those books written in lost and secretnguages, if he had that skill, he could get to know about everything stored there.


    Not to forget all the manuals and different techniques that were from ancient times and kept hidden in differentnguages, this skill would let him be the only one to decipher them.


    ''This skill will prove to be very useful in the future but I should focus on learning this manual for now.''


    He shook his head and came back to creating a skill to understand the book in front of him. This time, he thought of creating a different skill.


    "System, try creating this skill."


    [Processing the skill''s power scale....grading the skill....estimating the possible points required.....skill sessfully modules.]


    [Ding!]


    [Skill Name: ???


    Description:


    Allows the host to read and understand any onenguage.


    Note:


    This skill only works on the firstnguage host sees.


    Cost: 10 skill points.]


    [Does the host wish to use 10 skill points and create this skill?]


    "So this type of skills can also be created huh."


    Felix nodded while rubbing his chin and agreed with creating this skill.


    "System, create this skill."


    [Please name the skill.]


    "Just name it as First Language.", he didn''t waste time naming it.


    [Ding!]


    [Sessfully created a new skill.]


    After it was all done, he stared back at the content of the book. Slowly, the words started to make sense to him. A few secondster, he could totally understand what was written inside the book.


    Now that he understood thenguage, he focused his mindpletely on learning how to cultivate aura and be a warrior without any other thoughts.


    The room turned silent with only the asional sound of pages turning as the bright sun gradually set into the horizon.


    *****


    "Crash!"


    Arge table was broken into several pieces when a powerful hand hit it with a strong force.


    "Fuck those bastards! How could they fail toplete such an easy mission!"


    An angry voice echoed inside a dark room as a short and hideous-looking man twisted his face while getting up from his chair.


    "And YOU!! Didn''t you say that they''ll do the job perfectly and there was no need to send the most powerful guys for the job."


    He shouted at the man wearing a ck robe who was kneeling on the ground before him.


    "Guild Leader, the mission was just to kidnap a bunch of kids. So I didn''t think there was a need to send stronger members because that would only raise suspicions", the kneeling man sweated buckets while replying to his leader.


    He was the one who secretly issued the mission in the Twilight Chaos guild in the disguise of a businessman on the orders of his guild leader. But even though he sessfully issued the mission specifically for the unofficial members, the other members who were tasked to kidnap them failed to do so and in the end died on their mission.


    This angered the guild leader, who was nning to use the kids from their enemy guild as hostages and make them do unfair negotiations in the uing council meeting.


    "What do you mean just a bunch of kids!! Those little fuckers ruined all of our ns and now their guild will be alerted of our actions."


    The guild leader slumped back on his chair with an angry and exhausted expression now that their n backfired.


    His previous devious ns all went down the drain. Even though he wanted tosh out his anger at the man in front of him, he couldn''t afford to do so as he was a capable person from his guild.


    Suddenly, the door of the room opened in a frenzy as a man wearing a suit ran inside in panic and fell on the floor.


    "You! Don''t you have any manners!", shouted the robed man at the person who entered the room without knocking.


    "T-That....yes.....G-Guild Leader! There''s an urgent news!", the man stuttered before remembering his reasons and shouted.


    The guild leader sitting on the chair frowned as a bad premonition went inside his mind.


    "What is it? If it''s not something important then you will receive a heavy punishment for intruding in the room."


    The man''s pale face was in shock before he regained his bearing and quickly replied to his leader getting straight to the point.


    "T-The Twilight Chaos guild issued war on us."


    His answer silenced the room as the guild leader''s face turned from stern to dumbstruck at the sudden turn of events.


    "W-What did you say?"


    He thought he heard wrong as there was no way they would issue war on something so small. In fact, thest war between guilds that happened in Edenmont City was many years ago.


    Also, the Twilight Guild was known for its mysterious and secret way of handling things, so he never thought they would outright issue war on them.


    The man gulped and brought out a scroll that had the personal seal of the Duke of the city.


    The moment he stared at the blood-red scroll with ck engravings, the guild leader''s heart sank into the deepest of terror.


    "No way....."


    A war between guilds was to be supervised by the highest-ranking noble of the city. So the scroll with the Duke''s seal was enough evidence to know that there was going to be a war in the near future.


    The guild leader shakily took the scroll from the man and read its content with growing horror.


    It was decided. There would be a war between several guilds as its contestants. As for whether it was a conspiracy, a battle for power, or the never-endingpetition between the guilds, the real reason for the war was surely not for kidnapping a bunch of kids.

 Chapter 37: Aura

    While everyone was getting shocked at the news of the uing war, Felix was busy reading the aura cultivation manual.


    With the skill to learn any onenguage, he could now perfectly understand thenguage of the aura manual book and had spent 3 hours reading it.


    In simpler terms, Aura is the energy that a living being manifests when they unlock the true potential of their body through meditation and training.


    By following the meditation method mentioned in the manual, the nerves inside the body of the cultivator get stimted and they start to greedily absorb the nutrients present in the blood, stomach, and atmosphere.


    Getting a lot of nutrients absorbed will cause some deficiency in the body, that was why it was mentioned that the cultivator must cultivate diligently while maintaining a suitable diet. Whereas meditating in an area filled with magical energy didn''t need the use of a diet.


    The nutrition-filled nervester convert all the energy and transfer it to the various parts of the body like muscles, bones, brain, organs, and others while strengthening and improving them.


    The newfound energy breaks the potential limits of the body and allows the will of the cultivator to manifest in the form of Aura. The energy then can be used in a lot of different ways in battles.


    And when the amount of Aura in the body reaches a threshold, the cultivator will break through and advance a rank.


    It was mentioned in the book that the cultivators who practice Aura are called Warriors and the first three ranks in this power system only focused on their body while the information for theter ranks was written in a different book.


    "Hmmm"


    Felix narrowed his eyes and processed all the information he had read in the manual. Overall, it was easy to understand as only some basic things about aura were written in it.


    As for the different ways to use Aura, it was only mentioned in the book that there were a lot of methods to control aura and battle but the most basic one of them was improving the overall aspects of the human body like strength, speed, and thought process.


    There were a lot of battle arts that used Aura as the energy for their actions in tandem with weapons and artifacts. But these battle arts were notmon and thus most of the warriors only used aura to strengthen themselves.


    Felix closed thest page of the book and pondered on the chair for a few minutes.


    ''Let''s do it!''


    Getting up, his eyes gleamed with determination as he sat on the bed in the meditation form as depicted in the manual and focused his mind.


    A few hours went by but he didn''t feel any change. There was no movement of energy nor was there any strengthening, he only felt his mind wander as he sat on the bed in silence.


    Atst, he gave up trying to feel anything as his stomach started to grumble in hunger.


    "Sigh...This must be the result of having two-star talent, making me just average at many things."


    Shaking his head, he felt dejected and sat up from the bed to go to the dining hall.


    Wasting time doing something fruitless was never going to be useful. So he decided to meditateter and satisfy his hungry stomach for now.


    Coming out of his room, he walked to the farthest corner and entered the dining hall.


    It was the exact time for dinner, so there were a lot of guild members busy eating while chatting.


    Felix nced around curiously as he got himself a te full of food and searched for a seat.


    "Yo Felix! You''re name is Felix right?"


    A boy with dark green hair chewed pieces of chicken thighs from both of his hands and called out.


    Felix turned around to look at him and remembered he was a teammate of Roven, named Steve. The guy whoughed and made trouble for his other teammate Eric.


    "Umm yes, my name is Felix. Is there anything you need from me?", he asked politely as he didn''t want to get in a mess with this troublemaker.


    "It''s not me who needs something from you, rather it''s you who needs something from me.", he spoke while letting out a chuckle from his food-filled mouth.


    "Sorry?"


    Felix tilted his head as he felt confused standing in the middle of the dining hall and looking at Steve.


    "A seat. How much longer are you going to stand around for?"


    He answered his own weird riddle and pointed at the empty seat in front of him.


    "You can sit here if you want."


    Felix stared at the chair and realized what that guy was talking about before he nodded and sat on the chair.


    Steve looked at the innocent boy trying to sit on the chair and pulled back his leg he was trying to prank him by kicking away the chair the moment the kid sat.


    He thought that making another person hate him was not a good idea when he could just trick the kid in front of him into joining in his pranks.


    Gulping down the food, he drank some juice and asked the boy in front of him.


    "So how is it going? I heard you became an official guild member today. Are there any things you''re confused about? You can ask me if you want. I may not look it, but I''m a strong and trustworthy person in the guild.",


    "Some guys in the guild even used to call me guru and mentor as I have helped many of them with their problems."


    He started ranting on about himself with a prideful expression, not minding the stupid res the people in the vicinity were giving him.


    Felix heard him talk while eating and did not reply to anything. More like, the guy did not give him a chance to reply as he boasted and glorified everything about him.


    "...And so I was given the mission to handle most of the...."


    His mind started to get dizzy when the guy did not stop at all and he regretted sitting on the same table as him. Now he realized why there was an empty chair here as everyone just refused to sit with him.


    Even though he felt some pity for this guy for being sitting alone in the dining hall, Felix still waved his hands in an attempt to stop the crazy dark green-haired boy from continuing.


    "Hey hey hey, do you want another of that chicken thigh?"


    He picked up a piece of chicken thigh and waved it before Steve''s eyes. At the sight of it, he turned silent and eyed the piece of meat.


    "Take this."


    Ignoring the saliva leaking from the boy''s lips, Felix ced the meat on Steve''s te and indulged in the silence that followed. But that was only for a few seconds before hepletely ate the meat and was about to start talking again.


    Felix grew anxious and stopped him from talking as he quickly asked him a question.


    "Hey Steve, do you know how to cultivate Aura?"


    The dark green-haired boy raised his brows as it was the first time in a long time that someone actually asked him a question. But he didn''t waste time thinking before answering.


    "Oh you mean the energy that warriors use? Hehe, it seems you have found the right person to ask that question as I''m both a warrior as well as a mage. Don''t worry, with my help you won''t even realize how quickly you be able to use aura. In fact...."


    Felix''s face paled as he gulped in fear for having willingly released the unstoppable beast. His confused mind though quickly reached for a solution as he tried hooking the boy in front of him with a strategy.


    With an evil grin on his face, he decided to use the boy for his personal gain and potentially a free information broker.

 Chapter 38: Tricking the Prankster.

    In the crowded dining hall, the guild members were having dinner while discussing and chatting around.


    Among them, two boys, a dark green-haired one and a silver-haired one were sitting together at a table with the former not stopping his mouth from talking and thetter grinning evilly at his n.


    Felix raised his hands and interrupted Steve from his never-ending rambling.


    "You know what Steve? I think you''re a nice and helpful person."


    "Really?", Steve had a dumbfounded expression as couldn''t believe when he was called helpful. It was the first time in his life someone had ever told him as such.


    "Yes. Because even now you''re helping me learn more about cultivation. So, I think that you''re a great person."


    Steve smiled and folded his hands arrogantly when he got praised. He let out a chuckle and waved one of his hands.


    "Hehe, you don''t have topliment me so much. I already knew that I was great. It''s just that people did not realize it all along. Poor them."


    He shook his head sagely.


    "That''s right. I think the same, they are pitiful that they can''t even realize your true worth."


    Felix replied while faking a pitying expression on his face.


    His words seem to have boasted Steve''s ego that he harrumphed and shook his head like some hidden boss gloating over the masses for their ignorance.


    Seeing as it was the perfect moment, Felix made a sad face and continued.


    "But sadly, the dining hall has many people here shouting aloud. So I can''t focus on what you''re teaching me. Sigh..."


    Steve frowned looking around the dining hall and nodded as he felt it was right, the area was crowded and loud so it was reasonable that the kid could not understand properly what he was saying.


    "You''re correct. Wait a second, let me tell them all to keep quiet so you can focus on what I''m saying."


    Saying that he tried getting up on the table for everyone to hear his speech for them to quieten down. But Felix was quicker as he hurriedly pulled him back in panic.


    "Wait wait wait, instead of disturbing them I have a better idea...."


    Steve turned to look at the boy who stopped him and asked curiously.


    "Hmm? What''s better than telling them all to shut up?"


    Felix shook his head in fear of angering all the people in the dining hall as he told him what he actually nned.


    "Why don''t we just meet in my room and continue our discussion tomorrow morning?"


    Steve pondered for a few seconds and nodded as that seemed nice. He could help this boy in his room without getting disturbed by anyone.


    "Sure, we can just continue our discussion tomorrow in your room. But you''ll owe me a favor for assisting you, and help me with somethingter."


    The deal was not bad as both of them would help each other, so Felix nodded and agreed with him.


    "Deal, tomorrow morning we''ll meet for breakfast here and go to my room for more discussion. I''ll be going now. Goodnight."


    "Oh you too, goodnight."


    Concluding the n, he got up from the chair to not waste more time listening to his rambling and bid him bye.


    He left the dining hall leaving the tricked boy sitting alone on the table and walked back to his room.


    Closing the door, he sat on the chair and reread the whole book again making points here and there for tomorrow''s learning session.


    Even though Miss Elsa had told him to ask her for any doubts, he held back from doing that as he was not from this world and she could be suspicious of his questions.


    But the guy named Steve was an easily manipted person who talked too much for his own good. So, using him to gain more knowledge was much better as he seemed too stupid to notice any fault in his questions considering that guy said he was a warrior as well as a mage.


    Closing the book after rechecking and highlighting the important parts, he stretched tiredly and jumped on the bed.


    ''Tomorrow I''ll make sure to suck that guy dry with all my questions.''


    Smirking at his evil n, Felix closed his eyes and slept peacefully.


    *****


    "Chirp~ chirp~"


    Felix habitually woke up in the morning at the chirping of birds and refreshed himself in the bathroom.


    Coming out, he dried himself up and stared at his naked reflection.


    "Hmm....looks like I''m gaining some muscles in those thin bones."


    His previous skinny and weak seemed to have grown a bit from all the nutritious meals he had eaten recently. Promising himself to continue eating a lot, he stared at the earring on his ear nkly for a few seconds.


    "I wonder where this earring came from? Noah and others are not going to be back anytime soon, so I''m left with no one to ask about it."


    He had asked Miss Elsa yesterday while they wereing out of the inventory but she just shook her head not knowing anything regarding the earing. With no one to give him an answer, he decided to wait for the kids to return before asking them.


    Wearing his clothes, he exited the room and walked to the dining hall before entering. There seemed to be fewer peoplepared to yesterday so he quickly found the dark green-haired boy wolfing down his breakfast with both of his hands.


    Taking a te full of food for himself, he walked toward the boy and sat down at the table.


    "Hey Steve, you didn''t forget our deal right?"


    The boy eating his meal was surprised when someone suddenly called out to him and choked on his food, butter drank some water and calmed down.


    "Gosh, you scared me. And no, I didn''t forget our deal.", Steve wiped his mouth clean and retorted back.


    "Then after eating, we''ll go to my room."


    Felix smiled and started eating from his te ignoring Steve who wanted to start another conversation now that there was someone to apany him unlike being left all alone on the table.


    They both finished their meal happily and got up to leave the dining hall.


    "By the way, you cannot tell anyone about our deal, or else I won''t help you with your matter.", Felix reminded the boy as that would keep some things hidden from everyone.


    "You can trust me with it. I won''t tell a soul about this.", the boy replied patting his chest confidently but his im was not anywhere near trustworthy at all.


    The pair stopped in front of the room and entered secretly without alerting anyone.


    Felix told him to sit on the chair the moment they got inside and took out his aura manual. Flipping through the book, he paused on one of the pages he was confused about and handed it to Steve.


    "Have a look here, this part confuses me a lot."


    Without wasting any more time, he started asking him questions to clear his doubts.


    "Oh, this part. It may seem confusing at first but if you read it properly, you''ll understand that the exnation indicates having only focus is..."


    While Steve started his rambling without breaking a sweat, Felix quickly called to the system in his mind to continue thest part of his n.


    ''System, make this skill for me.''


    [Processing the skill''s power scale....grading the skill....estimating the possible points required.....skill sessfully moduled.]


    [Ding!]


    [Skill Name: Parabolic Hearing.


    Description:


    This skill allows the host to focus hearing on certain areas and filter out unwanted information or noise from the area or person.


    Cost: 10 skill points.]


    [Does the host wish to use 10 skill points and create the skill ''Parabolic Hearing''?]


    Felix briefly went through the details of the skill and agreed to create it before his mind could go crazy from the boy''s rambling.


    ''Create it hurry.''


    [Ding!]


    [Sessfully created a new skill.]


    After the skill was created, Felix focused his ears on whatever the boy was speaking out of his mouth and started understanding the actual information that seemed useful to him.


    Omitting the unwanted information like how he achieved aura and mana in a few seconds, and the color of the receptionist''s undergarments, Felix focused his hearing only on the details of cultivating aura and information about warriors.


    And what he gained from his n made him dumbfounded, and he realized how lucky he was to have gotten this free Wikipedia without any effort.

 Chapter 39: Grinding I.

    Being a capable dual fighter of warrior and mage, Steve had some good experiencespleting several of the missions with his team. His knowledge, although a bit on the lower side helped Felix solve a lot of his doubts.


    With the help of his new skill, Felix made use of the boy and asked him several questions ranging from aura cultivation, warriors, mission, and several others.


    Steve was especially happy to answer all those questions as it was the first time someone had actually approached him for help and politely conversed with him.


    As he got to know more and more information, Felix clenched his hands in jolly as all his doubts and insecurities about this world were getting clearer and clearer.


    First of all, he got to know that the nine ranks for both warriors and mages were divided into three realms. The cultivators in the first three realms were called ''Mortals'', the next three realms were ''Transcendent'' and thest three realms were called ''Legends''.


    The reason for these titles was because, for every three ranks there was a tremendously difficult bottleneck that cultivators had to face.


    As such, the number of cultivators in the Legend realm was very rare with no encounter of them ever in Edenmont City.


    The highest realm of cultivators that most of the cities had were of the Transcendent realm. The guild leaders of almost all of the top 10 guilds were of this realm with some of the higher-up members being there too.


    Felix also got to know the real reason why their guild was the only one to have unofficial members of rank 0 while most of the guilds only epted people above rank 1 and had no members called ''unofficial members''.


    It was all because of the new rule that their guild leader passed in the Guild Council. Not all of the guilds epted the preposition as they had no need of weak people and thus only Twilight Chaos were the ones to ept rank 0 people.


    Their guild leader demanded that it was for the sole reason of giving the weak a chance and helping the budding youths get some experience to prevent many of them from making mistakes and losing their lives just when they were getting ready to deal with the cruel world out there.


    On the other hand, the other guilds did not look in favor of this idea as it made them lose a lot of manpower to deal with weaker members so instead they just focused on their main teams andpleted missions.


    Coming back to cultivating aura, he learned that there are many ways that could help one meditate.


    Some of the easy ones were sitting in an open area with a lot of sunlight or being under the influence of various natural wonders like waterfalls, forest cover, etc.


    Other ways were to use potions, medicines, and formation arrays but they were not that easily essible so only the rich and resourceful used them.


    Taking a deep breath to process all the information, Felix stopped his automatic wikipedia, aka Steve.


    "That''s enough for today, Steve, I think I already got to know what I needed."


    The talkative boy stopped his rambling which he could have continued for hours without getting tired.


    "Oh, was that enough for you? If you want I can talk more with you."


    It was not an everyday chance for him to talk with someone who could wholeheartedly listen to him like the kid in front of him did. So he felt a bit sad knowing he had to go back to being alone with no one taking him seriously.


    "I may have more questions tomorrow, so how about we continue thister and rest for today?", Felix replied not giving up on this useful guild member.


    "Really? Sure then, we''ll continue tomorrow."


    Replied Steve happily as there was another chance for him to show off his greatness and potentially convince the kid to take part in his pranks in the future.


    He got up from the chair as the both of them bid each other goodbye and went out of the room.


    ''Let''s revise once more.''


    All alone, Felix first read the book once again remembering all the important points for doing meditation.


    After doing that, he got up and sat near the opened window of the room where the sunlight of the afternoon was shining brightly.


    Making a meditative form with his legs crossed, back straight and eyes closed, he emptied his mind of everything and focused on his body.


    Taking calctive breaths of a certain rhythm, his consciousness slowly wandered about his body before he felt it going deep down into the thin vessels and nerves of his body.


    Suddenly, his blood started to act strangely like it was being boiled under a low me. Little by little, the nutrients in his body broke away from several parts of his body and got absorbed by the nerves that connected them all together.


    With the addition of the energies from the atmosphere, sun, and wind in his meditative breaths, his body started to absorb all the nutrients which made him feel like going deep into theva and at the same time feeling the coldness of a blizzard.


    It was a strange feeling but it also made his mind freshen up as he could remember everything that transpired today and make urate calctions of his problems.


    After a few hours, he opened his eyes which gleamed energetically.


    "Huff.....So this is how meditation is done."


    He had no words to actually describe what he was feeling because it was the first time in his life that he experienced such a thing.


    The term meditation seemed a lot casual when he had gone through something which was a lot more magical and mysterious.


    Felix got up from the floor and stood straight clenching his hands to feel the effects of meditation.


    Even though there were no drastic changes in his body, his muscles and bones were feeling hotter and stronger than before with a lot of sweat leaking out of his body.


    He jumped and stretched in the room and got used to the newfound power his body had.


    "I feel so much stronger when I have not even reached rank 1. I wonder how strong I''ll be when I get there then.", he was happy with the gains from today when his stomach started growling.


    "Growl~"


    He wryly smiled holding his empty stomach.


    "It was true when the book said there would be a deficiency of nutrients after meditating. Guess I got to go have lunch then."


    Opening the door to the bathroom, Felix cleaned himself from all the sweat for a few minutes before heading to the dining hall for lunch.


    Now that he got to know how to cultivate aura and be a warrior, he just had to continue doing this until he could finally reach the threshold for breaking into the first rank and start his journey to be stronger.


    It was a race against time, for him to be capable of joining the war and prove that he was not the weak boy he was before, he had to be stronger andplete a lot of missions in the guild.


    While doing so, he would also kill a lot of enemies to get more skill points, which were the only thing that could help him achieve more than what his average talent was capable of.


    With a look of determination, he walked off toward the dining hall topletely fill his tummy with a lot of nutrients which were the only thing that could help improve his weak and thin body.

 Chapter 40: Grinding II.

    Felix had a te full of food that almost spilled out on the table, but he took care of it and ate everything filling his stomach.


    He sat alone a bit far from Steve and had lunch without wasting much time there. Done with the meal, he escaped from the approaching chatterbox and locked himself inside his room.


    "I can''t let that idiot disturb me, for now, I need to concentrate and meditate more."


    Going back to sit on the floor, he continued this morning''s cultivation. His mind and body rxed as he went through the different phases of meditation with the sunshine bathing his body.


    *****


    Twelve days went by as he spent his time cultivating and getting more information from Steve who asionally dropped by his room to discuss happily.


    "Hmm, I''m looking a lot better now."


    As he stood naked in front of his mirror, he could see the wonders of cultivating which proved itself in the form of strong muscles and a grown body.


    His previous height of 153cm had increased to 161cm in just a few days as he could now not worry about being shorter than Noah and others.


    If his body previously looked like a small kid''s, now he looked like a capable teenager with fit bones and toned muscles. The weak body had changed to be a lean and strong body with more strength and agility.


    The most fearsome fact was that he had not trained his body at all but only meditated in the cultivation method written in the manual. And even though he had done so much, he was still a bit far from reaching the threshold for rank 1.


    Now after 12 days, he thought he had enough meditation done, so today he was going to the training room with his new weapon that he had not used yet. Steve had agreed to train him today as he was free from his usual missions.


    "I can''t keep him waiting."


    Wearing his clothes which were getting less for him, he walked out of his room while carrying his weapon. He decided to practice the sword arts sometimeter, as it was something precious that Miss Elsa had told him to not easily show others.


    Stopping in front of the door of a room some distance from his, he knocked on it while calling out.


    "Steve, it''s me, Felix. Open the door."


    A few secondster, the door opened, and a dark green-haired chatterbox enthusiastically walked out.


    "Yo Felix, are you ready to get your ass handed to you?", the boy teased his ''pupil'' whom he had taught with fervor while holding a slim and long sword in his hands.


    Felix twitched his lips and let out a whisper.


    "Are you not ashamed of bullying your junior?"


    "Hahaha, don''t worry, with me as your guide you won''t be a junior anymore and you''ll start doing missions.", heughed confidently.


    Felix smiled as they both chatted and walked toward the stairs before heading upstairs to the third floor and reaching the training room section.


    From the stairs, to the left was the trading hall with the inventory at the end of it while the right side had a long corridor with many specially built rooms reserved for heavy training and mock battles.


    They walked ahead and chose a room with a stand at the door showing a green color. Steve flipped the stand showing a red colour and opened the door leading Felix inside.


    The interior of the room was brightly lit and looked a bitrger than the corridor outside in terms of breadth and length. With several pieces of equipment and weapons kept on the side, the room had closed walls devoid of any windows.


    "Come on, we''ll start with a light exercise to stretch our muscles first."


    It seemed Steve was not that dumb as he instructed Felix to do some light exercises. Five minutester, they both stood some meters away from each other as he motioned to start the training.


    "For now, show me how strong you are in hand-to-handbat before we start training with weapons."


    "Alright.


    Felix nodded and took a boxing stance as they had already kept their weapons to the side.


    "I''ll be starting now."


    With a low shout, Steve kicked off the ground and dashed toward his trainee while throwing out a punch.


    Having a serious expression, Felix readied himself and tried dodging the punch which arrived at a fast speed.


    Turning his head at the right time, he smiled but hurried again to defend against the kick that was followed by raising his arms toward his head.


    The kicknded on his right arm and he felt some mild pain. But he regained his focus and tried attacking his opponent with his elbow.


    Steve easily blocked the hit with his palms and pushed Felix away from him.


    Jumping behind to stop the force of the push, Felix bent his feet and pulled himself together but he got back into the fight as Steve hurried to hit across his face to which he bent down and swept his legs around on the ground.


    Letting out a chuckle, Steve hopped up and avoided getting hit on his legs by moving back. They both stood straight and readied themselves for the next move.


    "Hehe that was not bad at all, did you have experience fighting in closebat before?", Steve praised as he looked at the kid who defended urately against his attacks even though he was holding himself back.


    "No, I just used to get into some fights here and there with kids."


    Felix lied easily when he used to make trouble with even gangsters in his old neighborhood, but there was no need to tell everyone that.


    "Then it seems you got some talent at fighting with your body.", he raised his brow and smiled at his talented sparring partner.


    "But the fight is far from over."


    He did not waste any more time talking and started trading blows and hits with Felix.


    From weak and slower moves to strong and faster moves, he increased his output as the boy slowly started to get hurt here and there.


    Felix didn''t try to use any of his skills as he wanted to grow used to his new strong body and experience a fight with no tricks like he used to do back on Earth.


    But considering it was several years before that he fought in the streets, his moves were not that coordinated and his overall performance slowly started to gain a nice footing.


    They both fought with their hands and legs for about a total of twenty minutes before Felix felt exhausted and asked for a break.


    Sitting on the floor, he collected his breaths as he looked at the boy who was not tired at all.


    "Huff....Huff.....Why am I the only one to get tired, did you not feel anything at all from all the fight?"


    Steve rotated his hands around in a circle as he replied matter-of-factly while grinning arrogantly.


    "Well, I''m a rank 1 warrior, so of course unlike you, I have much more stamina in my body."


    "I guess you''re right."


    Felix nodded and rested for a few minutes before raising himself up and going to the side to wield his weapon.


    "How about we start using our weapons now."


    He licked his dry lips as he held his short sword straight with both of his hands while showing a mad look in his eyes eager to test his new weapon.


    "Impatient, aren''t we?"


    Steve shook his head as he went and picked up his long and thin sword before standing in front of the boy with an excited grin etching on his face.


    "Don''t go crying over me if you get hurt, okay?"


    The silver-haired boy nodded with a serious expression, getting ready to fight with a sword for the first time unlike just stabbing forward with a knife.


    His red eyes gleamed with a strong will as he ran ahead while raising his short sword to meet his sparring partner''s sword as they both shed strongly.

 Chapter 41: Grinding III

    "ng!"


    "ng!"


    "ng!"


    The repeated sound of swords shing resounded in the training room as two boys wielded their weapons and fought in a serious manner.


    One of the boys, the silver-haired one was finding it hard to properly hold the new type of weapon that he had never used in his life.


    On the other hand, the other dark green-haired boy was getting more and more surprised at the quick way his sparring partner wasing to learn the way of swords considering he was just a newbie at it.


    They both danced in the room with their swords as the sparks of their battle revealed a marvelous sight.


    Gradually, Felix was getting used to the way of handling a sword but he knew that his opponent was holding back and letting most of his attacks divert in thest second.


    After a bout of few minutes, his sword escaped from his hands at a strong sh as he fell back on his butt onto the floor.


    "Ouch!", he cried out in pain as the hard floor hit against his ass.


    Looking at the dejected expression on Felix''s face, Steve smiled and walked over cing the sword on his shoulder.


    "Are you sure you''re not a newbie at swords?", his tone impressed.


    "It''s my first time, yes. Did I do good?"


    Felix asked patting his pants as he stood up.


    "Better than a novice."


    Steve swung his sword in the air as he said.


    "But your problem is that you don''t wait to find an opportunity to strike and just swing the sword as fast as possible."


    He narrowed his eyes and held his sword above him before releasing a bright energy from his body that gathered on his sword as he shed to the side.


    The sword ejected a curve of light from its de which hit the wall strongly and dissipated.


    "If you fight with warriors who can project aura into their attacks, then you won''t be able to resist them before getting defeated."


    Felix widened his eyes as he looked at the pure form of aura that Steve had mentioned before to him.


    Even though warriors used aura to strengthen themselves, only the really talented could manifest it in their attacks and use them freely. Something the guy in front of him did easily as proved by all the bragging he did of himself.


    Steve turned to look at the boy in his eyes and grinned.


    "So, do you understand what you have to do now?"


    Felix was still confused but he voiced out.


    "I should try to find an opportunity while fighting?"


    "You can also do that, but the thing you have to take care of is to.....", Steve suddenly stopped talking as he narrowed his eyes and contemted while rubbing his chin.


    "Umm...You know what, just forget what I said."


    He blinked as he actually didn''t have any advice to give him as his dumb brain failed to form a proper sentence that could sound cool as well as make it seem like something said by a professional.


    Felix twitched his lips with a strange expression on his face.


    He knew that Steve was not that great of a teacher and didn''t have a knack for exining, but there was no one else he could have fooled to help him by just praising them a little.


    He decided to do something a bit different with his sparring partner as he gave an idea.


    "How about this? We''ll battle in a slow manner with you attacking me in various directions whereas I''ll predict your movements and block your hits."


    Steve pondered about it and nodded as he agreed.


    "Sure, we can do that."


    This was why Felix liked using this guy. He agreed to everything as long as it was not something unreasonable without doubting or raising any suspicion.


    Both of them got ready and fought again with their swords as they tried several other methods of training for Felix to get familiar with the way of handling swords.


    Steve kept changing his power output and made sure to keep up with the weaker Felix as they engaged in sword fights.


    Training for more than two hours, the two boys fought with vigor and zeal pushing their bodies to their limits. In the end, they slumped on the ground staring at the ceiling after getting their bodies exhausted.


    "Damn, you can really fight without stopping huh."


    Steve uttered between his breaths regaining his stamina while resting.


    "Huff....I''m already at my limit...Huff....I was just....Huff...pushing myself to keep up....with you..."


    Felix was too exhausted to even speak as he had been fighting until now with only pure willpower with no energy remaining in his body.


    "You crazy bastard.", Steve replied with a chuckle finding it hard to believe a neer could make him show his true strength with swordbat.


    In the fight, he hadn''t used any aura or arts, but still, the kid had managed to push him enough for him to be serious in the fight.


    They two rested in silence for five minutes before they felt hungry as if rats running in their stomachs.


    Steve got up and pulled Felix up by holding his arm. They had enough training for today and wanted to go get some rest.


    "Let''s go back, we can continue our training tomorrow.", he said and picked up his thin sword.


    Felix nodded and he too picked up his short sword before following him out of the room.


    They changed the stand back to green color and went to the second floor limping with their tired bodies.


    When they were just about to part for their rooms, Steve stopped and asked him curiously.


    "By the way, Felix. When are you going to start doing missions?"


    Felix paused at his question and raised his eyebrow before thinking about it.


    "Hmmm, maybe when I''m just about to advance to rank 1, that''s when I''ll start doing missions to breakthrough with actual experience."


    He answered and asked back in question.


    "Anyways, why do you ask?"


    Steve just smiled as his voice trailed out as he entered his room while chuckling,


    "Well, it''s a secret which I''m sureter you''ll be surprised of."


    Staring at the closed door with confusion, Felix had no idea what he was talking about so he just shrugged and decided it was another of hisments to make him seem mysterious and cool.


    He walked ahead and entered his room, removing his clothes before going into the bathroom for a rxing bath.


    "Sigh...It''s already been more than two weeks since I''vee to this world."


    Sitting inside the bathtub, he wondered about his life after transmigrating in this world.


    Even though it wasced with dangers and terror, he felt much more alive than spending his life in the same monotonous way of everyday struggles.


    Especially growing stronger, it was a different kind of feeling than just getting rich in his previous world. As even though you''ll have a nice life if you get rich, you''re life would still not be in your own hands as you could lose all your fortune in a single day.


    But getting stronger physically and being able to fight against other enemies made him realize how amazing it was to keep moving forward and achieving more than he could.


    It was an addictive feeling. Making most of the cultivators greedy for power and thus resorting to all kinds of schemes and violence to get things done their way.


    In all of this, the silver-haired boy also had the deepest of desire.


    The desire to never be at the mercy of anybody else. And have enough power to make everyone fear to even think of making him surrender.


    After cleaning his body, he came out of the bathroom, dried himself, put on his clothes, and walked out toward the dining hall.


    He didn''t waste any time as his body was already starving and tired, so he took a te full of food and emptied it, before taking another te and filling his stomach to the brim.


    Coming out of the dining hall, he stumbled his tired body into the corridor and reached inside his room.


    He jumped onto the bed the moment he entered and went deep into slumber awaiting a grueling schedule of more meditation and training tomorrow.

 Chapter 42: Encounter.

    The next morning, Felix woke up with gusto and refreshed himself before doing his usual routine of morning meditation.


    One hourter, he finished and entered the bathroom to wash off his sweat.


    Before entering rank 1, cultivators had to cleanse their bodies of all impurities and break the first limit of their bodies. Until then, they could only meditate and train for days and months.


    From what he had heard from Steve, every rank had four minor stages in them, they were; early, mid,te, and peak stages. Being a rank 0, he was called a novice warrior and could only get the title of a Mortal Warrior after advancing.


    Coming out of his bathroom, Felix flexed in several gym poses in front of the mirror while wearing his clothes which were getting a bit tight.


    "Holy sh*t, I look so damn cool."


    His fair and fit body looked majestic along with his shining hair. After changing from his previous weak body, he could now call himself handsome with shapely cheeks and beautiful red eyes.


    Done with praising himself, he came out of his room with a smile and entered the dining hall, eating a nice meal for breakfast.


    Still eating, he nced around and failed to find the chatterbox.


    It seemed the boy was preupied with something else or he already had lunch and was going on a mission.


    Coming out after a full meal, he thought of going out into the city for today as Steve was absent for more training.


    His clothes were getting smaller and tight with his growing body, so he had to buy some new pair of clothes and other necessities for him.


    When he walked down the stairs to the reception hall, he saw Miss Elsa busy with some work.


    After not seeing her for more than 12 days as he was busy with training and meditation, he kind of missed her.


    Approaching the reception desk, he ced his hand on it and called out to her with a smile.


    "Hey there Miss Elsa, how are you doing?"


    The receptionist was busy handling her work so when a voice called out to her, she got annoyed and raised her head to scold the person.


    "Don''t you think it''s rude-....wait,....Felix is that you?"


    Her voice turned from stern to surprised as she widened her blue eyes reflecting her astonishment.


    Felix smiled wider and nodded his head while showing his both arm''s biceps to her.


    "Hehe, it''s me Felix, Miss Elsa. I''ve got bulk after training in seclusion for a few days. Don''t I look awesome?"


    He didn''t know why but showing off his gains to her made him feel nice and satisfying. The way her beautiful features changed after looking at his strong body made his heart soothe.


    Elsa stared in amazement as the previous weak and small boy had suddenly gotten taller and bigger almost reaching her height. But what made her heart skip was his handsome face and bright red eyes that seemed to have grown healthier and captivating.


    "Umm.....you surprised me there and yes, you look a lot better now."


    She said with a happy smile while calming her heart from falling for the boy. In her mind, he was still a kid so she could not have some forbidden feelings for him.


    The both of them chatted for a while with Felix telling her about his training except for how he tricked Steve into bing his wikipedia and free training partner.


    She nodded in appreciation when he gave his best at meditating and training as now he was just a bit further away from reaching rank 1.


    If his talent was higher at three or four stars, then he could have already advanced in about one or two weeks but given his average talent of two stars, it was a nice result to have achieved this much.


    "By the way, Miss Elsa. Today I''ll be going out to buy some things for me. So can you mark some shops where I could buy stuff from?"


    Felix brought out the map of the city from behind him and handed it to her with a strange smile.


    She received the map shaking her head and marked various shops while chuckling before handing it back to him.


    "Take it, I''ve pointed out some ces where you could buy clothes, weapons, essories, and many other things on here. Be careful on your way out there and don''t follow some strange people if they talk with you."


    "Alright, I''ll remember that. Thank you, Miss Elsa."


    He thanked her and turned around to leave the hall when she called him back again.


    "Wait, I forgot about this."


    Opening a drawer from her desk, she took a bag from there and ced it on the desk as the chimes of coins hitting the wooden table sounded.


    Felix came back to the desk and curiously asked while tilting his head and staring at the bag.


    "What''s the matter?"


    Elsa smiled poking out her tongue, and hit her head cutely.


    "I forgot about this. As you and the kids were given a false mission and were exposed to danger, the guild had topensate you and also reward you for saving them. So here is five thousand tahl that you deserve."


    Looking at the bag, Felix was surprised as he picked it up and weighed it in his hand.


    "Really? I get all this?", he smiled at the unexpected reward.


    "Yes. You get it everything."


    "And for the others?"


    "Theirpensation was already sent to their homes."


    epting the money, he tied the bag to his belt and thanked her.


    "Thank you. With this, I''ll be able to buy more things."


    His face beamed with joy as he couldn''t wait to go buy nice clothes for him.


    "I''m going now, bye."


    He waved his hands and walked toward the main door under the engrossed eyes of the receptionist.


    ''He''s growing stronger while showing incredible spirit for fighting. Although he has average talent, it can be reced by hard training and sufficient grooming. Maybe he can be the one the guild leader is looking for.''


    Elsa mused as she remembered her leader''s job that he had shamelessly handed to her.


    While the receptionist observed the boy pondering about the future, Felix walked out of the hall by showing his card to the door.


    Feeling the cool wind of the morning, he nced around at the sky and sucked deep breaths of the fresh air after staying inside for several days.


    "Haaa~, it feels nice to finallye out and touch some grass."


    Unlike many hermits who rarelye out of their homes, he was someone with an adventurous spirit who used to walk around the neighborhood.


    Although he used to unconsciously get into fights and trouble in his daily walks, he swore that he was not the one to hit first.


    Walking out of the gates, he left the guild building and opened his map.


    "Hmmm, where should we go now?"


    Noticing the location of a store not far away from here to the north, he chose to go there and read the directions of the way.


    "Okay, from here we go north and turn to the east after walking two kilometers."


    He nodded and folded the map before stepping forward in the north direction to the store.


    Strolling in the busy morning street, he nced around at the local people and shops who were going about their daily lives.


    As he walked, other people noticed him and stared at his handsome figure with his shining silver hair dancing softly in the wind. It was the first time in their life to see someone with such a rare color of hair, also with an attractive pair of eyes and face.


    They thought he was some noble but rejected that idea when they saw hismoner clothes. The nobles would die but never wear such clothes which they called as filthy.


    Noticing the people eyeing him with interest, especially the cute girls and maturedies, Felix got a bit nervous.


    ''I know I''m handsome, but you don''t have to stare so much.....''


    He was never handsome in his previous, just average, and most of the girls he had met would be scared to talk with him as his notorious reputation was quite famous around the area.


    Walking while showing a confident expression on his face, he ignored all the people and made sure to not forget the way as he traversed around the streets.


    Some minutester, he reached his destination and stopped in front of it.


    "Raziel''s Clothing Store huh..."


    Staring at the big board above the store, he read its name and nodded at himself as the exterior looked grand and posh.


    "I hope they''re not too pricey."


    Shrugging at his not-so-rich self, he walked ahead and opened the nice-looking door of the store.


    "Chime~"


    The bell at the door chimed as someone else walked out the door at the same time and bumped into him with their heads hitting each other.


    "Bam-"


    "Ouch" x2


    Felix rubbed his head even though it didn''t hurt much and looked straight at the person who headbutted him with almost the same height.


    "Look where you''re going, idiot!"


    A clear and soft voiceined in anger but her words were like ethereal music to the ears, unlike her intended grumbling.


    With a pair of captivating purple eyes that could charm anyone at first sight, her simrly colored waist-leveled long hair was neatly tied in a ponytail.


    Her fair face without a blemish was pouting as she looked in slight anger at the boy who was speechlessly staring at her with his wide eyes.


    The girl harrumphed and raised her leg before stomping it onto his feet with a slight force to awaken him from his stupor.


    But the pain did not faze him at all as he continued to stare at her absentmindedly before voicing out.


    "Beautiful..."

 Chapter 43: Misunderstanding.

    Felix had seen many girls and women in his previous life, of course on the inte, who could make people adore and love them without any effort. But he knew the secret behind all their beauty was a single thing; makeup.


    If it were not for that deceptive and misleading material, then he could swear most of those beauties were nothing more than ugly swans.


    In the current situation, on the other hand, he couldn''t process his mind to even describe how otherwordly the girl infront of him was.


    His red eyes stared unblinkingly at her as any other man would have done which she was already used to.


    The girl seemed to have finally lost her temper at the boy who had identally hit her and also continued topliment her.


    Puffing her cheeks, she balled up her cute fist into a ball and punched him right into his stomach.


    "Oof-"


    The boy who was out of touch with reality was dumbfounded at the sudden attack which hit him with a force that didn''t do her dainty arms any justice.


    Felix finally broke from his dreamy behavior as he bent down and held his hurtful stomach.


    "Hmmphh! That''s what you get for acting stupid."


    When the girl saw the boy whom she hit was kneeling on the floor, she smiled victoriously and harrumphed softly before walking away with her stylish gait as her purple ponytail hopped with her steps.


    For her, even though the boy looked handsome and mysterious with his silver hair, she had enough of these men who alwaysplimented her and fawned over her.


    That was why whenever someone looked at her with a passionate gaze and told her she looked beautiful, her first reaction would be to kick him or punch him almost knocking them out.


    While she walked away from the scene, Felix still held his stomach but gazed back at her as he cursed in a low voice.


    "That bitch- To think she would punch me just because Iplimented her."


    His tone was resentful as that was only the second time he had ever praised a woman in his life with his first time being Miss Elsa when she kind of forced him topliment her.


    He shook his head as he decided not to curse some mentaldy who must have been going through her special days.


    "Maybe it was my mistake when I suddenly praised her, but goddamn I''ve never seen someone as gorgeous as her."


    Trying to get ast nce at her, his tone was impressed despite getting a strong hit on his guts.


    "And she was also strong..."


    In the end, he was left with curiosity and interest in the strange and mysterious purple-haired girl who was the first woman to have hit him in his life.


    He could attest that he had never hit a woman in both of his lives unless a girl who was cross-dressing just happened to have entered the fight in the streets.


    As the pain slowly subsided, he sighed and turned around to finally enter the store.


    Bright lights adorned inside the store, a sight umon in the bustling streets of wooden stalls. There were mannequins showing off thetest clothes of various kinds like robes, vests, and many others.


    Felix nced around in amazement at the sight that could rival their guild building''s interior.


    ''Does Miss Elsae to these luxurious stores often? I''ll have to check their prices first, or else they''ll kick me out.''


    Noticing a worker of the shop eyeing him with interest, he walked forward.


    "Hello, can you show me some ordinary clothes that can fit me?"


    The worker nodded happily and brought out some clothes from behind the counter.


    "With that appearance, any clothes would look good on you. But I suggest you buy these that match and enrich your already striking features."


    Along with the enthusiastic worker, Felix tried a lot of amazing clothes of many different colors in the trial room. He would get an excited p every time he changed clothes ranging from shirts to robes, vests, hoods, jackets, and many other unique garments.


    Even the manager of the store came out and praised how nice the clothes looked on him, going as far as gifting him a dozen of those clothes for free and asking him to advertise their store if anyone asked him about them.


    ''I never thought being handsome had these many advantages.....''


    Of course, Felix agreed to do just that.


    He was getting free clothes which should have actually been pricey considering their material and style, so he was more than happy and epted their gift with a smile promising them to advertise their clothes if there was ever a chance.


    As his previous clothes looked a bit tight because of his body''s growth, he tossed them aside and wore new clothes in the trial room consisting of a white shirt with silver artistic designs and ck trousers that were stretchable and allowed flexibility for fights.


    Atst, he wore a loose ck robe on top which didn''t hinder his movements but instead mystified his looks adding a dark charm to his whole personage.


    "Thank you foring to Raziel''s Clothing Store. We hope you use our service again."


    The worker and the manager bowed when Felix was leaving with a bunch of bags in both of his hands who was a bit overwhelmed by their excessively cordial service.


    He nodded and thanked them with a smile.


    "Yes, thanks for these. I''ll be sure toe here again."


    Seeing the handsome boy leave, the worker turned back and ran to the manager''s side.


    "Manager, are you sure that boy was rted to her?"


    The manager, an old man with lush ck hair rubbed his stylish moustache and nodded as his eyes gleamed.


    "I''m very much sure of that. Did you not hear the both of them talk when she left our store? And even if he''s not someone rted to her, we couldn''t be more cautious unless we want to invite a whole top guild to reason with us."


    He shuddered at the mere thought of angering the girl who hade to look around for some clothes but didn''te to like any of their best products.


    From what he had heard and seen, that girl was not someone a person like him could even talk to. Belonging to one of the strongest guilds in the city, she could destroy their store''s whole existence if she was ever dissatisfied with their service.


    So even if the chances of that boy being rted to her were none, he wouldn''t take such a risk for the safety of his life and subordinates.


    *****


    Unaware of the misunderstanding that had profited him, Felix carried the bunch of bags with a happy smile on his face and walked back to the guild under the awestruck gazes of the public at his stunning look.


    His mood was jolly as his steps hopped cheerfully having done shopping that didn''t cost him a tahl.


    "That manager sure was a good guy for giving me these free clothes. Maybe I should bring Noah and the others the next time."


    Smiling on the whole way back to the guild building which he had managed to remember without getting lost, Felix entered the gates and walked to the door.


    Showing his card, he swaggered inside in new clothes and a bunch of colorful bags as the big door opened.


    Abruptly, he felt a lot of gazes looming over him the moment he entered.


    Many guild members were gathered in the reception hall while surrounding the desk in a circle, but what made him stunned was the amount of bloodlust and pressure they were releasing.


    It seemed the situation was serious as no one had a smile on their face except for a dumbfounded bags-carrying silver-haired boy.


    ''Huh? What the hell happened here?''

 Chapter 44: Fearless.

    The reception hall of the guild building was eerily silent as the main door slowly closed with a thud, jolting Felix who was the center of attention with his new look that was handsome yetical at the moment.


    He had no idea why the guild members were standing in a circle around the reception desk with such intensity. But nevertheless, he had to break the silence as he called out to them.


    "H-Hey there, my name is Felix.....remember me? The guy who killed those three people from the enemy guild."


    His words seemed to have made them realize he was the new capable member of their guild and not just a salesman knocking on their doors with all those bags. It was not their fault as the change in his looks had made them forget who he was.


    They didn''t say anything and instead turned back to stare at the receptionist with intensity while taking deep breaths to make sure what they had heard was right.


    Elsa who was sitting in her seat turned her gaze away from Felix who had just interrupted them and repeated what she said in a solemn voice.


    "Four guilds will be participating in the war against us...."


    Silence prevailed in the hall as the guild members looked around at each other with a peculiar look in their eyes.


    Suddenly, someone let out a chuckle, and then as if with a snowball effect everybody started tough crazily with bloodlust spreading out from them.


    "Hahahah, to think we would be able to make four guilds scared of us."


    "You''re right, they got so scared that they are trying to join hands with each other. Hehahaha"


    "Finally, there''ll be a big war for all of us to fight. These missions in secret were starting to get boring as ofte."


    "Guys, this time you can''t stop me from getting into fights unlike in the missions, alright?"


    Felix stood petrified and dropped his bags when he heard they were going to war against four enemy guilds, but hearing these guysugh and cheer without a worry made him speechless.


    ''Are these guys also stupid like Steve or am I hearing something wrong?.....''


    He couldn''t make heads or tails of the situation while questioning whether these guys didn''t have any fear or they were just suicidal.


    The crowd dissipated as everyone just shrugged at the announcement and went to their things leaving the receptionist frowning as she rubbed her forehead.


    Hurrying in front of the desk, Felix widened his eyes with a spirit of inquiry as he banged on the table.


    "Miss Elsa!! Did I hear it right when you said we''re to war against four enemy guilds?"


    Elsa raised her head at him and nodded calmly.


    "Ah that, well yes we''ll be going against four guilds in the war."


    He was surprised at her calm voice and asked again.


    "Just that? Are you not worried about it? We are only one guild while there will be four guilds."


    Hearing the anxiousness in his voice, Elsa smiled wryly and answered.


    "You don''t have to worry about those guys. They are not someone who fear death and we have already prepared a surprise for this situation for our enemy guilds."


    She sounded confident while revealing a slight killing intent but she hid it and smiled assuredly at him.


    "Umm.....sigh. I''ll believe you if you say so."


    Felix scratched his head and sighed as he needed to grow stronger quickly if he wanted to participate in the war too and not be cannon fodder against four enemy guilds.


    "Also, how much time do we have left until the war?"


    Putting a finger on her chin, she pondered for a while and answered calcting the days left.


    "There should be around 18 days left until the start of the war."


    ''It''s not more nor less, but I should hurry and try reaching the first rank.''


    Nodding at the information, he clenched his fists and walked back to the main door.


    Taking the bags back into his hands, he started walking toward the stairs and turned back to tell her.


    "Miss Elsa, can you tell Steve that I was looking for him when he returns back?"


    She raised her brow at his request wondering why he would need that troublemaker but nodded regardless.


    "Okay, I''ll tell him that."


    "Thank you Miss Elsa, I''ll be going back to training now.", his voice was unyielding as his red eyes gleamed with determination.


    Carrying the many bags, Felix went upstairs to the second floor and entered his room.


    He kept the bags in the closet and refreshed himself in the bathroom beforeing out clean.


    ''I''ll need more skill points to create skills that could help me in the war, so I must do some missions rted to killing monsters outside the city. But before that, I''ll have to meditate and learn the sword arts for my safety.''


    Sitting on the floor where the afternoon sunlight was at its peak with his eyes closed, he concentrated and went into meditation turning all the nutrients into energy.


    After some time, he stopped meditating and sat on the chair taking out the ck Horizon Sword Arts manual from inside his closet.


    It was written in the samenguage as that of the aura manual so he started reading it with focus, understanding the basic ways of the sword and techniques that were necessary for him.


    Feeling his stomach growl after 3 hours of meditating and reading, he realized it was time for lunch and kept back the book inside the closet beforeing out of his room.


    He went to the dining hall and filled his stomach while also searching for Steve who was still not there.


    Missing his training partner, he walked back to his room and took out the sword arts manual again.


    As he had already read the manual a few times, he didn''t try reading it again and instead took out his short sword to practice the moves drawn in the book.


    Slowly moving the sword, he moved it in a certain flow and stepped around the room.


    With the air as his target, he shed, sliced, cut, and stabbed the sword in various directions. He did those moves more than a hundred times.


    Finally, when he got exhausted from doing all that for around four hours, the door knocked as a voice interrupted him.


    "Felix! Are you there? I heard Miss Elsa say you called for me.."


    When Felix heard the voice, he kept his book back in the closet before opening the door with a smile.


    "Hey Steve, where did you go?"


    Steve looked at the sweating boy and realized he was training alone inside his room. With a nod of admiration, he replied.


    "There was a small mission I had to do with my teammates, so I couldn''t apany you for training today."


    Felix waved his hands as if he didn''t mind that.


    "It''s no problem, you were busy."


    Still standing at the door, he took a breath and requested Steve for his help.


    "I''ll start doing official missions from tomorrow, so I need your help with training today."


    Steve was surprised and a frown took ce on his face.


    "Are you sure about that? You can start doing missions after you advance to rank 1 because even though you can fight properly, it''ll be a lot more dangerous with only novice strength."


    Felix didn''t want to start doing missions rted to killing monsters after he advanced because that would mean he would no longer gain skill points from rank 1 monsters, and defeating higher than that was not something he could do right now.


    "I''m sure of it. Although I''m still not that powerful, I have trust in my ability to escape if I''m in danger."


    Steve thought about it and realized he was not his mom so he could not deny him from doing what he wanted. He just shrugged at the end.


    "If you say you can do it, then I''ll believe it...But only after you survive today''s training will you be able to go."


    Felix grinned at the challenge and nodded while going back inside his room.


    "Wait a minute, I''ll change into training clothes."


    It seemed there was a nice training outfit in the bag of clothes that the manager gifted him. Wearing the tight and stretchable dark blue training outfit in less than a minute, he walked out carrying his sword.


    "Let''s go, I''ll show you how much I''ve improved."


    Steve and Felix walked upstairs to the third floor and moved into a training room.


    After doing a few exercises, they took out their weapons and stood in their stance against each other preparing for a sh.


    "I won''t be holding myself back, okay?", Steve taunted while swinging his sword.


    "Come at me.", replied Felix while taking a deep breath to adjust his thoughts.


    Hearing the confident voice of the boy, Steve grinned with an excited gleam in his eyes before dashing forward and showing him the difference between the both of them.


    The fight started as the silver-haired boy disyed the result of his training and honed his skills under the crazy attacks of the chatterbox.

 Chapter 45: Into the Forest.

    "Huff....hufff..."


    Felix was finding it hard to breathe while he knelt on the floor on his one leg and supported his bnce with his short sword.


    "Goddamn it...huff.....when are you going to fall?"


    Steve was slightly bent down as he too was extremely exhausted from the continuous fight they had.


    Their serious training without a stop had taken them two hours as both of them were shing their swords at each other with the intention of winning this duel.


    "I won''t stop.....huff...unless I can''t stand anymore..."


    Gritting his teeth, Felix stood up and swayed a bit before holding his sword tightly.


    Steve looked at the boy who was unwilling to stop and shook his head ending their training.


    "We can stop now, I didn''t have lunch today so I''m gonna have dinner early."


    He walked to the side and wiped his sweat with a towel.


    Felix looked at himself and realized that he was still far away from defeating his training partner and thus replied between his breaths.


    "You can go, I''ll continue to train alone ande for dinner a bitter."


    Staring at the boy who started swinging his sword in a repeated manner, Steve scratched his head a bit annoyed.


    "Uhh, you crazy guy.....just don''t knock yourself out from all the hardcore training.''


    Instead of wasting time convincing the boy to rest, he took his weapon and belongings before going out of the room, waving at him.


    "I''ll be going now. Make sure to turn the stand outside the room after you leave."


    All alone in the training room, Felix closed his eyes and started meditating while standing inside the room.


    After getting used to meditating and knowing how it works, he could now enter into a focused state like any other experienced warrior could.


    Breaking out of the meditation which was of just a few minutes, his mind was fresh and energized as he took a deep breath before raising his short sword up into the air and shing down with full force.


    The sword just made a shing noise and hit the ground without anything happening.


    "Sigh....it seems having average talent really cannot bring me some surprises."


    He was thinking of imitating how Steve had manifested aura but it seemed he could not do that yet. Sighing at his untalented self, he continued to step around the room for an hour practicing the basic moves from his sword arts manual.


    There was no one here, so he could try those techniques and add more to the sword art from his inspiration.


    After the training session, Felix returned to his room and refreshed himself.


    He then went and had dinner at the dining hall beforeing back and deciding to rest for the day.


    His mind drifted into sleep with only a single thought left.


    ''Tomorrow I''ll make sure to gain many skill points, hehehe....''


    With a smile on his face, he imagined a lot of skills he could create and went into deep slumber.


    *****


    The next day in the dining hall.


    Felix sat at the table eating his breakfast while the chatterbox apanied him and didn''t stop talking with his food still in his mouth.


    "...even if you feel that you''re confident to take down the monster, make sure it''s unaware of your existence. Once, I had almost kissed the goddess of death because the monster sneaked up on me. Also, do not go fight with it without checking around the area for any other monsters..."


    Felix slowly ate and listened to his ''wikipedia'' talk, while already having activated his skill ''Parabolic Hearing'' to only hear the useful information.


    The other guild members looked in respect at the silver-haired boy who could stay in his right mind while sitting beside the infamous troublemaker and chatterbox. They for sure would have taken out their weapons if the guy ever approached to talk with them.


    After ending their breakfast as well as the one-sided discussion, Felix got to know a lot of information regarding the way of hunting monsters as well as knowing a suitable ce he could go for missions.


    Steve had stated that there were a lot of forests surrounding the city but only the one in the west of the city was where monsters of lower ranks stayed.


    He went to his room and took out his short sword, before going downstairs to the reception hall near the desk.


    "Miss Elsa, can you show me some missions of hunting monsters?"


    Elsa who was busy going through some documents on the desk looked at the boy and frowned after hearing what he said.


    "....Felix, are you sure about this? Steve had already told me you were capable of fighting on par with him, but I''m still concerned about you going alone in the forest.", Her tone wasced with worry which reminded her of what had happened on hisst group mission.


    Felix didn''t go down and decided to convince her in any way.


    "I won''t be fighting against strong monsters but the same of rank 0 like me. So, there won''t be much danger as I''ve already trained a lot these two weeks."


    She thought about that and her tension decreased. If he was going to fight suck weaker monsters then there was no need to worry so much.


    Putting forward her hand, she smiled at him and said.


    "Here. Give me your map."


    He smiled hearing that and took out his map from behind him, before giving it to her.


    Elsa marked some more directions and ces, highlighting some details even outside the drawing of the city. After a minute of focused marking, she handed it back.


    "Take it,.....and also this and this."


    She opened a drawer from under her counter desk and took out a few vials that had some green-colored liquid and a scroll.


    "These are basic grade potions, which may aid you in your mission."


    Taking the vials in his hands, he thanked her.


    "Thank you for this."


    She shook her head and said.


    "Don''t thank me yet, that''ll be deducted from your mission reward. And this is the mission scroll."


    "Cough-"


    Felix coughed when he realized it was not a gift but calmed himself down and stared at the mission scroll intently.


    "You''ll have to capture a few of these horned hares drawn in the scroll. They can be easily found in the wild, so you don''t have to venture deep inside the forest."


    "Alright."


    "Also, don''t waste time ande as early as you can. The nighttime is especially dangerous as many monsters start to roam around then."


    He nodded and took the scroll from her before turning to walk out of the guild building.


    "I''ll be going now, bye."


    "Umm be careful, and good luck."


    Elsa sighed looking at the adventurous boy and wished for his safety. Even though she was worried about him, she knew that only by taking a risk would he grow further into someone strong. And she didn''t want to stop him from doing that as that would only limit his potential.


    *****


    With a sword hanging on his belt and a map in his hand. A silver-haired boy reached the western border of the city and approached the big and sturdy gates that led everyone out of the city.


    "Hmmm, so beyond this is the western forest huh...."


    He kept back the map and took out his guild card ID which he showed to the guard standing at the gate.


    The guard checked it and let him go out the gate while respectfully looking at him mistaking him for a noble with his handsome appearance and expensive clothing.


    Exiting the tall gate, Felix walked on the straight path while looking around at the several colorful trees of the forest.


    Yes, the forest was not the typical forest filled with green trees instead there were trees consisting of different colors, like yellow, blue, orange, and pink.


    "Amazing..."


    He stared at the stunning sight of the beautiful trees in fascination. The other people who were going out of the city didn''t have much of a reaction except for a rare few who seemed to have also been new to this ce.


    Taking a deep breath, Felix went out from the straight path where all the travelers were walking and entered the forest while putting his hand on his short sword.


    Knowing there wouldn''t be any monsters in the nearby area, he activated his skill ''Silent Steps'' and ran deep inside the forest with a grin.


    "Skill points, here Ie..."


    Without the slightest bit of worry and ignoring what the receptionist had reminded him, the boy sprinted into the forest hoping to quickly find some monsters.


    After getting a lot stronger than he previously was, he wanted to test his newfound strength by defeating many monsters of the wild until he got exhausted, but he could never imagine that fate had stored something else for him.

 Chapter 46: Killing Spree I.

    The colorful forest looked unreal and mesmerizing with leaves of different colors falling about the surroundings.


    Looking from above the trees, a lush head of silver could be seen running swiftly, but his steps were inaudible and untraceable as he didn''t even leave behind any footsteps.


    Felix had been speeding into the forest for about ten minutes now, but excluding small animals he didn''t encounter any monster that could make him stop.


    ''There are no monsters here, maybe I should go deeper....''


    He stopped for a second and continued running ahead albeit a bit slower than before as he didn''t want to get tired before the fight even started.


    ncing around, he saw many things that could only be seen in a forest of a fantasy world, and unlike thest time when he was escaping from the ve trader, this time he was carefully taking in the strange scenes.


    The barks of the trees were especially thickpared to the ones he was used to back in his world, and the nts and bushes around were long and wide spreading on the ground.


    Unusual fruits hung on the branches that he had no idea of their uses, with asional birds that wererger and more beautiful in their shapes.


    His mind wandered in thoughts of the things that were in this world to which he had a great curiosity.


    Suddenly, he stopped as he could make out a brown furry monster five meters away, sitting atop a pink tree making its whole existence contrast to its background.


    ''Finally, it looks like a monster.''


    Speaking in his mind to not make any voice, he slowly hid behind a tree peeking at the monster to make out its features.


    ''System, tell me its rank.''


    [The monster in front of you is a Fanged Ape, it is of rank 1.]


    ''Sweet.''


    The monster in question was a bipedal creature of 130cm in height with brown fur. It looked like a lean and short gori but with four fangsing out of its mouth and long sharp nails.


    Felix stared at it and started thinking about what he had to do.


    ''Umm....Steve said that before engaging inbat, make sure to look around the area for other monsters....''


    Giving it a thought, he activated his skill ''Earth Swimming'' and slowly got absorbed into the ground.


    Swimming inside the soil, he moved around the area and carefully surveyed the surroundings by poking only his eyes out from the surface.


    It was fortunate that he had decided to do that as he found two more monsters of the same kind. Both of them were together about fifteen meters away from the first ape.


    ''Sigh...listening to that chatterbox was worth the effort.''


    Sighing in relief at taking Steve''s advice, he swam back to the first ape he encountered and deliberated on how to defeat it without alerting the others.


    ''With this skill, I can swim to the top of the tree. But how should I attack it? Should I sh it, or stab with my sword? Wait, first I''ve to look for its weakness.''


    Poking his head out of the ground from behind the ape''s back, he stared up and activated the skill ''Ratio Technique''.


    Several line grids with ten divisions appeared on the body of the monster with a red division separating the line into a ratio of 7 to 3.


    ''Here we go...''


    Staring at the weakness that was its neck, heart, and several others, Felix clutched his short sword and moved towards the thick and tall tree before slowly swimming upwards on it''s bark in a vertical direction.


    Making his way to the branch where the monster was sitting, he came out of the solid surface from its blind spot and attacked the unaware ape.


    His short sword moved with deftness and stabbed the ape''s neck on its side left, beforeing out from the right side.


    "Shwwiick!"


    The flesh-tearing sound reverberated in the peaceful forest as the ape struggled to remove the sword from its neck making its eyes panic in pain.


    Felix persisted and held the sword tightly with both his hands before swinging it out toward one side.


    The short sword came out of the ape''s neck with a strong force and sliced its neck in half, making it fall from the branch extinguishing the light in its eyes.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]


    Felix looked down at the corpse of the ape and smiled at his first hunt of the day.


    "One down, more to go..."


    He went back into the solid surface and swam down the tree, moving some meters away toward the other apes who didn''t notice the death of one of their kind.


    Eyeing the two apes, he decided to survey around again and make sure there were no other monsters that would disturb his hunt.


    Initially, he had wanted to do a one-on-one fight with the lone ape but doing that had a lot of disadvantages.


    First of all, they would be making a lot of noise which would alert the other monsters.


    And after killing one there would be more appearing which would only make him tired.


    Also, with his focus on only one enemy, he wouldn''t be able to realize when other enemies had surrounded him.


    Luckily, after cheking the area there weren''t any other monsters in the surroundings, so he went back to the apes.


    ''Hmm? Where did they go?''


    Both apes were not at the previous ce anymore, so he became anxious and searched for them in the area before finding them at the ce where had killed their friend.


    The two monsters were shaking the body of their friend whose body had already be cold and lifeless.


    Their eyes turned red as they finally realized it had died, and they started shrieking in a crazy manner making their voice reach the corners of the forest.


    Felix looked in panic as both of them screamed in anger, and turned more anxious when he heard the sound of more apes shrieking from afar.


    ''Shit! Why the hell did this happen!''


    He had miscalcted. Leaving the corpse near to them without suspecting they would notice it was his mistake. A mistake he was regretting.


    But even if more apes appeared at the scene, he was not worried as his skill allowed him to be undetectable by swimming in the ground where their vision would not reach at all.


    Still watching with his eyes peeking out from the surface, he could see a lot of those apes gathering at the scene while jumping from one tree to other.


    If he had to count, then there were more than 30 apes of the same kind. Most of them were moving around the area looking for the culprit, while a few carried the dead corpse toward somewhere deep into the forest.


    Sometimeter, the apes gave up on locating the killer of their kind and retreated back into the forest in a frenzy.


    Felix kept on staring at them and gave a grin that seemed to not hold a bit of mercy.


    ''Well, it''s not like holding a grudge against you guys but I need more skill points for my survival, so...''


    His red eyes gleamed terrifyingly at the thought of killing all of those apes and making his skill points hit more than 300.


    Unlike the jumping apes, he swam in the solid surface of the ground and followed them to their habitat, determined to ughter the whole tribe of fanged apes for the sake of his survival.


    Even if what he did was cruel, he wouldn''t stop right now, as the desire to get stronger inside him grew the more he fought, making him forget all the reasons as only resoluteness remained in his heart.

 Chapter 47: Killing Spree II.

    The apes jumped and ran in the forest while screeching about and catching some small animals for food.


    In the jungle, it was thew for the strong to prey on the weak. To consume the weaker beings for the sake of the stronger''s survival.


    That was what happened everywhere in the forest and in the world too.


    Felix swam for about ten minutes before he stopped as the apes seemed to have finally reached their home.


    Hidden below a cliff, a dark natural cave could be seen with many of the same monsters going in and out.


    There were no sentries or guards anything as the ce looked chaotic with many apes jumping about, sleeping on the trees, bringing more prey, ying and fighting in the space before the cave.


    Watching all the apes that easily surpassed more than 70 in number, Felix frowned as he was in deep thought.


    ''That''s more than I expected. If they exceed 70 with more apes in the cave, then I''m sure there''ll be a monster of rank 2 too.''


    From what he heard from Steve if a monster tribe had a lot of their kind gathered, then there would surely be at least one of them who would be a leader with a higher rank than the majority.


    ''System, can you tell me how much of these are of rank 1.''


    Peeking from a distance, he looked at all the apes who were outside the cave.


    [Affirmative. There are 55 apes of rank 1 and 18 apes of rank 0 before the host.]


    He could see the normal apes of rank 1 like he had killed before including apes of smaller size which looked like baby apes.


    ''I should not approach the cave and only hunt the one who separates from the group.''


    Staying inside the ground, he moved around the area trying to find if some of the apes were moving away from their homes.


    After a few minutes, he saw a group of four apes jumping on the trees and leaping away to the east of the cave.


    ''A chance!''


    Without wasting more time, he swam and followed them as they moved in the forest with quick agility and hunted small animals, reaching a ce a bit far from their tribe.


    The four of them did not stay together and were about a few meters away from each other finding fruits and prey.


    Felix remained hidden for a while until he made sure that there were no other apes following behind.


    After some time, he thought it was time to take action and thus moved forward toward a lone ape that was picking something from the ground.


    Bringing his body out from the solid surface of the ground, he held his sword and sneaked from behind the ape before shing at the red line of weakness that was revealed from his skill.


    "sh~''


    A gush of blood spurted out from the ape''s chest as it finally noticed the human behind him and jerked away feeling the pain of his bones getting broken.


    Not giving the ape a chance to recover, Felix dashed ahead and cleaved his sword toward its head exerting every ounce of his power.


    "Shrieek!!-"


    The dumb ape screeched in anger at the enemy and tried to catch the sword with both of its hands in the hopes of blocking the attack.


    Bringing the sword down, it cut through the ape''s hands easily and proceeded to tear apart its head.


    "Krikk~"


    Feeling the sword entering its brain and continuing to move downward, the eyes on the separated parts of the ape''s head glowed fiercely but slowly lost their light.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]


    Felix couldn''t focus on the message sent by the system as he quickly removed the sword from the dead corpse''s head and dodged the iing attack from the other apes.


    It seemed that the other three apes were alerted when they heard the dead ape''sst screech and hurried here, only to see it die gruesomely.


    ''Can I handle three at once?''


    The three remaining apes surrounded Felix while screeching madly at him.


    He could activate his skill and hide inside the ground if he wanted to, but he didn''t do that as the reason he came to the forest was to get stronger and test his limits while gaining skill points was secondary.


    "Shriieek!" x3


    The apes pounced on him angrily together, swinging their long nails in an attempt to scratch him to death.


    Felix swung his sword in a circle and stopped them before they could reach him.


    His speed was fast as the sword slightly cut through their bodies giving them a small wound.


    Pushing away the three of them, he eyed one of the apes and activated his skill before dashing straight toward it.


    Stabbing his sword toward its heart, he kicked off the ground and jumped forward. The ape tried to dodge the attack but the sword still grazed sharply at its right shoulder.


    Quickly side-stepping, he dodged the attack of another ape with pure instincts and ended the life of the wounded ape by stabbing the sword deep inside its eyes as it remained dumbfounded from the pain of its shoulders.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]


    The remaining two apes again screeched savagely seeing theirrade die as their eyes turned red in anger.


    Felix didn''t mind their shout and ran between them as he dodged their attacks and shed at their bodies.


    The apes had be mad with anger and couldn''t make out their attacks as he could easily move around them cutting at the red line of weakness.


    Slowly, the attacks grew more and more with plenty of blood getting lost in the process.


    Felix thought it was time to end the battle, so he kicked away one of the apes and pierced his sword into the chest of the other.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]


    Thest ape came running at him weakly with several wounds on its skin but Felix sliced his sword heavily across its neck, severing the head from the body.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]


    The battle concluded within a mere six minutes, eliciting a sigh of pure joy that escaped his lips.


    "I''ve grown a lot stronger now, dealing with four of them didn''t even sweat me."


    Even though both the apes and Steve were of rank one, the chatterbox was at thete stage of the first rank while these monsters were of only the early stage. So, the differences were huge.


    Also, taking into ount that these fanged apes were dumb monsters, they didn''t have the same intelligencepared to humans and thus couldn''t strategize their way of fighting and only attacked ording to their instincts.


    Happily smiling at his new 50 skill points including from the earlier lone ape, Felix gradually sank into the ground and decided to continue the ughter.


    He left the scene moving back toward the cave where the apes gathered, to look for some other groups that were separating from the crowd.


    And thus failed to notice a different kind of monster appear as it gazed at the dead corpses of apes for a few seconds and joyfully ran in the other direction from Felix.


    Two different beings moved in opposite directions with a n of their own, unaware of the chaos that would result sooner orter.

 Chapter 48: Unexpected Situation.

    After rushing back to the cave hidden under the cliff, Felix swam around the area and searched for another group to leave.


    ''System, show me how many skill points I have left right now.''


    [Affirmative.]


    [Skill points: 140]


    ''Hmm, so only this much is left...I should try saving more skill points for now andter use them all on a strong skill that can help me in the war.''


    Actually, he wanted to use those skill points and create some skills that could help him in the current situation. But he also wanted to save them if there was any urgent need in the war.


    Also, there was no need to only depend on new skills as he could fight monsters head-on and try to grow stronger in the typical manner of a warrior. Or else he''d be left behind in terms of purebat and be more of a fighter who only knows how to use tricks.


    As he continued to survey the area, he eventually found another group of five apes moving away from the group in the opposite direction where the previous four apes went.


    ''Let''s go, time for duty...''


    Felix trailed behind them for obvious reasons, sneakily poking his eyes out from the ground along the way, and making sure that no other apes were following behind.


    The five of them seemed to travel a lot as although ten minutes had passed, they still did not stop.


    Thinking that there was no need to waste more time as they were also far away from the cave, he decided to take action.


    ''No need to take a risk by taking them all on, let me just separate them.''


    He nned after some time of pondering and swam up above the branch of a tree.


    ''This idea may be stupid but it''s the only way.''


    The apes were running with quick jumps, so he could not outrun them and try a sneak attack from the front. Left with no choice, he could only think of one n.


    Standing on one of the branches of a tall tree, he took a deep breath before shouting aloud.


    "YOU DUMB MONKEYS!! DADDY''S CALLING YOU!!"


    His shout echoed into the forest but it didn''t reach that far, only arriving near the five apes.


    Abruptly stopping at the loud voice that they couldn''t understand but still felt a bit insulted hearing it, the five apes scanned their surroundings for the source.


    At this time, Felix was swiftly sneaking toward the five apes who made a dumb decision of separating and finding the strange voice.


    It seemed they had nned to catch a new type of prey that could spew vulgarities and present it to their leader, who wouldter reward them for the gift.


    As for their prey, he was slowlying out from the ground while holding his short sword from behind one of the apes.


    ''I''m sorry, I was never your daddy...''


    Activating his skill ''Ratio Technique'', he eyed the red line at the center of its back and thrust his sword into it, deciding to quickly finish it off.


    The ape was pushed forward by Felix into a bush as the green leaves turned bloody.


    It tried to resist but could only struggle under Felix who twisted the sword in its heart, leaving behind only one of the two to survive.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]


    As he had handled the kill in silence, the other apes didn''t notice a thing.


    Without wasting a second, he again swam into the ground and sneaked behind the other apes, taking their lives one by one.


    *****


    Near the cave where the fanged apes were gathered.


    A group of nasty green goblins appeared, slowly approaching the other monster tribe while hiding behind the many trees.


    s, a confrontation was inevitable as some apes finally noticed them and started screeching loudly alerting all the other apes.


    The goblins revealed themselves with a snarky grin on their faces and ran ahead, attacking the group of apes.


    Both monster tribes erupted into a sh of battle as the colorful forest started turning red from all their blood.


    "ROOAARR!!"


    A loud roar echoed out from the cave as a more muscr ape who was 2 meters tall came out while drumming its chest.


    "GRAWW!!"


    As if replying to the big ape from the side of the goblins, arge dark green monster walked over holding a giant wooden club in its hand.


    The two strong leaders of both the tribe stood at the back waiting for the weaker monsters to end their battle.


    *****


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.] x4


    [You have gained 10 skill points.] x4


    Four more messages from the system came by as Felix stood in the midst of the dead corpses of the remaining apes.


    He took out a vial from his pocket and spread it over a slight wound that had appeared on his arm when he identally swung it around an ape''s fang trying to push it away.


    "I cannot make such silly mistakes, because if not for this potion then the wound would have grown a lot without immediate care."


    Felix looked in awe as the part where he had applied the potion slowly closed back and healed itself. He kept the remaining half vial back in his pocket and swung his arm feeling no pain at all.


    "Amazing, to think only a small amount of that liquid could heal that wound..."


    He smiled looking at his arm and thought it was not a bad choice to have brought those potions even at the cost of the mission''s reward.


    "I should hurry back and look for some other group of apes to kill, or else it''ll gette and they''ll notice something unusual."


    Adding 50 more skill points to his collection, he started his skill and swam into the ground going back toward the cave.


    ''Killing these apes one by one takes a lot of time, so should I try taking a crowd head-on? But if they surround me on all sides and attack from long range by throwing stones, then I won''t be able to react quickly...''


    Deliberating on whether he should change his strategy to save time or remain to do the same even if the apes may start getting suspicious of the lost members, Felix continued to move while keeping his eye on the area.


    Suddenly after a few minutes, he started hearing roars and shrieks of several monsters from the front when he had almost reached the cave.


    ''Wait- What''s happening.....''


    His mind became alert and he started to swim faster before he arrived at the bloody scene of two different monster tribes fighting for their lives.


    Poking his widened eyes out from under the ground, he gazed dumbfounded at the group battle taking ce in front of him.


    The Goblins grinned evilly and shed their des letting out snarky chuckles while the Fanged Apes screeched in anger at the invaders and swung their ws.


    ''Fucking hell!!..... What the fuck are you doing to my skill points.....''


    Felix could only grit his teeth in pure wrath as his ruby eyes gleamed furiously in madness looking at the carnage that was happening before him.


    ''It doesn''t matter, now that you brought yourself in front of me, then be ready to get killed.''


    Taking some deep breaths, he calmed himself down after a few seconds and started nning to add the filthy goblins to his skill points collection.


    He went into deep thought and calcted how he should take part in the battle in front of him.


    First of all, he knew that jumping right in was suicidal, and moving in and out from the ground to steal a kill in the chaos was also hard.


    ''Should I try creating a skill now? Or is there another way for me to approach the battlefield?''


    Sneaking around the area, he gazed at the scene when his eyes finally fell on a horrible monster two meters tall.


    ''Wait- That looks like...'', he took a gulp in dread as his throat felt a bit dry looking at the monster that was just standing straight while radiating a strong pressure in the surroundings.

 Chapter 49: Lucky chance.

    With a muscr body reaching taller than 2 meters, the monster was dark green in color and held a giant club in its hand while standing at the rear of the goblins.


    Felix turned to stare at where the monster was looking and saw another big monster standing at the cave''s entrance.


    ''System, tell me their ranks.'', he quietly thought.


    [There are two monsters of Rank 2 in front of the host.]


    He already knew that would be the case, but looking at the pressure they were emitting, his previous spirit slowly calmed down.


    ''There''s no way I can go against the two of them.''


    Taking out weak monsters of Rank 1 was his limit by using his skills, and he didn''t want to try testing whether he could fight a Rank 2 monster the same way because they for sure didn''t look like dumb prey.


    ''What should I do?....wait if there are two enemies fighting then.....''


    Suddenly, he remembered Steve''s advice and thought for a second before going back to the ground. Moving around the area, he searched if there were any other Rank 2 monsters hiding somewhere.


    Inspecting the area from a little distance, he didn''t notice anything strange until some slight movements in a bush caught his eye.


    ''What''s there?'', he frowned and slowly moved in from behind trying to take a look at the hidden figure.


    Sneaking at the battlefield from the bush, a slightly taller but thin goblin hid there holding a ck staff with some bracelets on it.


    Unlike the muscr two-meter goblin who only wore a cloth to hide his lower body, this thin goblin wore an old robe of grey color with several ornaments on its body.


    Felix stared speechless at the goblin who was excitedly hiding in the bushes waiting for its chance to appear on the battlefield and asked the system.


    ''System, what is its rank.''


    [The monster in front of the host is of Rank 2.]


    He stared at the unguarded goblin and pondered on his next course of action.


    ''This goblin is not emitting any strong pressure and is also not holding any closebat weapon, so it should be most likely a mage.''


    Most of the mages didn''t train their bodies, so they were inherently weaker to physical attacks but their magical attacks were explosive which could tten the earth and blow away trees.


    ''Should I try killing it?''


    He didn''t know if it was safe for him to try taking out a Rank 2 mage but looking at the careless back of the thin goblin, he couldn''t help but get greedy for those skill points.


    ''Let''s do it! I won''t be getting any more chances like this if I waste this one.''


    Making up his mind, he took a deep breath and activated his skill, ncing over at the red lines that appeared on the monster''s body.


    His body moved underground and slowly neared the Rank 2 goblin, making no sound as he had already activated ''Silent Steps''.


    The skill had no effect on beings that were more than two ranks higher than him, which was the third rank, so it was still useable on the goblin.


    Focusing his vision and targeting the red line that indicated a weakness in the side of its neck, Felix held his sword tightly and came out from the ground.


    The goblin was staring intensely at the battle ahead and had absolutely no idea of a silver heading out from the ground behind him.


    It had made sure to use some spell earlier and check whether there were any living beings in its surroundings, but it seemed there was no one nearby so it was not that cautious.


    ''I should try using a stronger attack....''


    When Felix arrived just a meter away from it, he thought of trying the technique written in the ck Horizon Sword Arts and arched the short sword sideways making it reach his other side from behind.


    ''ck Horizon First Technique: Singr sh.''


    He held the sword tightly with both his hands and sidestepped pushing his body''s weight in a circle while bringing the sword in a quick manner as it shed the goblin''s neck.


    Felix felt pain in several parts of his body as he performed the unfamiliar yet strong technique, but the result was good as a cracking sound could be heard.


    "Krischckk~"


    The short sword had moved in a straight line and cut the goblin''s neck almosting out of the from the other side.


    Feeling a bit of flesh and bones left to be cut, Felix exerted more force while bringing the swordpletely out from its neck.


    "Thud-"


    The goblin''s eyes remained narrowed like when it was spectating the battle like a fisherman waiting for its fish, but its head fell down on the ground losing the cunning light that was shing in its eyes.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 100 skill points.]


    Felix took deep gasps as he held his aching body but a victorious smile surfaced on his lips.


    His mind was still under pressure for having taken a risk to attack the Rank 2 goblin, but looking at how easily he had killed it, he sighed in relief and happily clenched the sword.


    ''Holy fuck! I just took out a Rank 2 while still being a Rank 0.''


    It was unbelievable now that he realized what he had done.


    Remembering the message from the system, he called to ask.


    ''System, how many skill points do I have?''


    [Skill Points: 290.]


    There was a smile on his face as he nced at the increased skill points.


    ''A whole 100 points, that''s sick! Should I try killing the other Rank 2 too?''


    In his madness, he thought of taking the lives of other Rank 2 monsters too but shook his head as that seemed to be a lot stupid idea.


    ''No! I was only able to kill it because it was a mage who had a weak body, but those monsters are warriors who can most likely use aura so I''m not their match.''


    Rejecting that n, he looked at the dead corpse of the goblin and bent down to hold the ck staff that seemed to have fallen aside when it was killed.


    ''Is it a magic weapon or something?''


    He nced at it for a while and thought about what to do with it.


    "ROARR!!"


    Suddenly a loud roar came from near the cave which prompted Felix to quickly hide behind a tree and peek out stealthily. He also kept the ck staff hidden under the bush as he could not carry it with him.


    "GRAWW!!"


    Another shout replied to the roar as he stared at two monsters who were moving toward each other, dividing the way as the weaker monsters moved away and made a path for them.


    The leaders of both groups seemed to have finally decided to take action.


    While gawking at the fight that was about to start, Felix decided to once again survey the surroundings for any other hidden monsters who would try to take advantage of the battle between the two tribes.


    Circling around the area quickly, he couldn''t find any other monsters. Thus, he peeked out from under the roots of a tree and stared at the spectacr battle scene with an intent look in his eyes.


    ''So this is the power of Rank 2 beings.''


    The big ape swung its thick arms and strong ws at the tall goblin tearing apart the air as the wind made the surrounding monsters push back.


    Blocking the ape''s attack with its giant club, the muscr goblin didn''t rush to strike as it was waiting for its partner, the mage to appear and attack the ape with its long-range attacks.


    They had already nned their strategy to take out the leader of the apes in surprise and it was excited for their victory that was already in the bag, but the goblin didn''t know that the mage was lying inside some bush with its head separated from its body.


    The battle continued on as Felix remained hidden trying to find some opportunity to kill some more monsters and collect more skill points.


    ''Should I directly start killing those wounded monsters or is there a need to create a skill to help me in this situation?''


    He started pondering if there was any skill that could help him easily collect skill points by taking the lives of these monsters without gathering any attention.

 Chapter 50: Slaughter.

    Many skills went by in his mind as he slowly narrowed down the list and decided to choose the one requiring the least skill points for not emptying his hard-earned collection.


    ''It doesn''t have to be shy and should let me quietly take their lives even from some distance.''


    He nced at the many fallen monsters who were at theirst breath but were protected by some of their tribe who weren''t taken down yet.


    If he had to count, then the number of monsters on the battlefield easily surpassed more than 200, with half of them already dead and the rest of them still alive while keeping a distance from the stronger two monsters.


    Felix looked in deep thought at the monsters, who were lying down on the ground and moving away sneakily. Their whole body was touching the ground and some monsters couldn''t even move, resting while taking theirst breaths.


    ''If I swim underground, then reaching them won''t be a problem buting out and attacking them would be hard as my whole body needs to be out if I have to deal them damage. Then what about an attack from underground...''


    He narrowed his eyes and came to a conclusion on which skill he needed at the moment to start farming monster lives.


    ''That may be the only option. System, create this skill...''


    [Affirmative.]


    [Processing the skill''s power scale....grading the skill....estimating the possible points required.....skill sessfully moduled.]


    [Ding!]


    [Skill Name: Earth Spikes.


    Description:


    Allows the user to project out rocky spikes from the ground. Can create 6 spikes for every minute. The power and number of the spikes can be increased by using mana.


    Cost: 120 skill points.]


    Felix looked at the skill details he had imagined and widened his eyes in doubt.


    ''System, are you sure about that cost? It''s not even that strong, with just projecting spikes from the ground and it costs 120 points....''


    [Answering the host, the skills that are directly rted to damage dealing andbat inherently need a lot of skill points to create. While skills that are auxiliary and nonbat require lower skill points to create.]


    Hearing the rule for pricing the skills, he got confused and asked about it.


    ''And why is it so? Is there an important reason for it?''


    [....]


    There was no reply from the system which resulted in a groan that escaped his lips.


    ''Ghh, fine. Don''t answer me, but at least create that skill.''


    [Do you wish to use 120 skill points and create the skill ''Earth Spikes''?]


    ''Am I a joke to you? Of course yes!'', he rolled his eyes that were peeking out from the ground at the system for asking him that when he already agreed to it.


    [Ding!]


    [Sessfully created a new skill.]


    After the skill was created, he calmed down andpletely went underground.


    Earlier, he was about ten meters away from the battlefield so he had to move near them before he could start his attacks.


    He swam forward and made sure he had covered the proper distance before slowly poking his narrowed eyes out to take a look.


    ''What the-''


    Just when he had pulled up, a goblin came and stomped its skinny leg on his head before staggering weakly and falling down on its back.


    Felix stared at the stupid goblin in surprise and decided to test his new skill on this fucker.


    ''Earth Spike!''


    The ground beneath the fallen goblin wobbled a bit and suddenly a small rocky pir quickly ejected from there.


    It happened so fast that the goblin couldn''t even react before an earth spike impaled into its back and came out from its chest.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]


    Felix grinned at the quick death of the monster who had dared to step on his head and nodded inwardly at the power of his new skill.


    ''Hmm not bad, I can control its size and speed and it should be able to reach around one meter in height.''


    The earth spike that killed the goblin was not that tall, just reaching 50 cm like how he had wanted to create it. So, it went unnoticed by the other monsters.


    He turned his head to nce around and made sure that no other monster identally stepped on him, before looking for other monsters that had already fallen in the battle.


    ''Only fallen ones can be taken out easily as most of the monsters ignore them and instead focus on the standing and fighting ones.


    Quickly finding another poor prey, he swam and neared it before stealthily taking its life, and continued to do the same around the battlefield. Taking the lives of the weakened monsters, he slowly reduced their numbers without them noticing.


    If a monster ever happened to notice him, then an earth spike would impale him from below.


    Unlike the battle between the weaker monsters, the two leaders of the group had arge space in the middle reserved for them where no other monster would even dare approach.


    The muscr goblin was growing increasingly anxious during the fight while getting furious at its partner who must have decided to just act as a spectator and let it deal with all the damage.


    It couldn''t remember if it had done any wrong for the goblin mage to do this to it.


    As more and more wounds appeared on it from always being on the defensive, the goblin gave up on waiting for any long-range attacks from the mage and decided to start attacking the strong ape.


    "GAWWRR!"


    It roared out loud to show its dominance only for the ape to shove a punch in its face.


    The goblin wiped the blood from its mouth and furiously looked at the big ape who started drumming its chest.


    Grabbing its giant club tightly, the goblin jumped ahead bringing its weapon and swinging at the ape''s head.


    Their battle had finally started to get serious with both of them having their full attention on each other, which let the small silver head that was poking out from the ground have a crazy hauling.


    ''Damn, I hit the jackpot!''


    With eyes full of excitement, the unnoticed Felix took thest light out from the weakened monsters both goblins and apes alike.


    His emotions in jolly as he traversed throughout the battlefield, impaling his spikes into several parts of the unaware monsters including their as*.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]


    The messages from the system kept on buzzing inside his head but his thoughts were purely on killing more and more without a rest.


    Creating six spikes every minute was enough for him as he needed time to find and locate his prey before waiting for an opportunity to strike.


    Gradually, most of the monsters were falling down with the light inside their eyes turning off.


    The colorful forest was dyed in a bloodbath as only a few beings remained alive on the battlefield who were tired from all the fight.


    One of them being a silver-haired boy who was calcting the profit from today''s hunt while eyeing the two stronger monsters.


    ''Should I?....''

 Chapter 51: Rank 2 Battle.

    Felix stopped his carnage and gaped at the battle between the two Rank 2 monsters.


    Their fight had suddenly reached its peak with both of them showing anger at each other.


    The big ape was furious at the goblins who had invaded their home and killed many members of its tribe, while the huge goblin was angry at its partner, the mage who had failed to do as they had nned and thus unleashed all of its wrath on the ape.


    Wind crashed in the surroundings from their powerful attacks, making the spectators squint their eyes for a better look.


    There were about a dozen other monsters left, who had no strength to fight anymore and were only waiting for their leaders to end the battle hopefully making them win.


    Felix ran his eyes over them and shrugged his shoulder not wanting to waste more skill points.


    ''Well, nothing is more expensive than some missed skill points....''


    He swam underground and continued to move around the area, stealing the lives of the monsters who had no knowledge of their predator.


    Leaving some of his attention toward the two monsters, he collected 60 more skill points with 6 of his spikes every minute.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]


    Taking advantage of the spectacr scene on the battlefield which stole their focus, he harvested the monster''s lives until a few minutester there were no spectators left except for him.


    In the end with his head out from the ground surrounded by the corpses, his eyes finally focused deeply on their battle and noticed the reason behind their power.


    ''So they were using aura in their attacks...''


    The big ape''s fists and the goblin''s club glowed a dim color of white every time they attacked. It was the result of applying aura in their fists and weapons, and obviously, they could not manifest it out from their bodies.


    Red eyes and twisted expressions were etched on both of their faces as they crazily attacked one another without ncing around them.


    After some time, the goblinnded a decisive hit on the ape''s head with its club, and its wooden weapon finally broke apart.


    But the attack had damaged the ape a lot, upon which the goblin didn''t ruin the chance, and took out its hidden knife from under its cloth before stabbing it into the ape''s chest.


    The knife prated deeply making the ape fall on its back as it struggled to move.


    ''Chance!''


    Felix''s eyes lit up when he noticed the ape fall down on the ground.


    He quickly swam underground and moved ahead before using his skill.


    ''Earth Spike!''


    Instead of one, he had used three spikes this time which impaled the fallen ape''s back from underground.


    The ape was already feeling helpless when a knife was stabbed into it but before it could try to get up, three sharp objects plunged into its back with one of them reaching just above its butt.


    Even though it sighed in relief for not getting pierced inside his hole, the pain that followed made it frown.


    It raised one of its arms upward hoping to get the body out of the sharps spike when another spike ejected out from the ground and punctured into its neck.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 100 skill points.]


    A victorious smile emerged on his face when Felix heard the system''s notification. His eyes gleamed in a dark light for a while as he nced at the ape''s corpse andter turned to look for the other Rank 2 monster.


    ''Huh, where did it go?''


    Felix frowned in confusion and looked around the area but he could not even find a trace of that huge goblin''s shadow.


    A few seconds earlier, just after it had stabbed the ape, the goblin surveyed its surroundings to see what had happened to the other monsters.


    Its eyes widened in horror looking at all the dead corpses without a single monster left breathing.


    The fear of knowing all of its group members had died and feeling its growing weak body, the goblin decided that escaping this ce was the best option before the other monsters of the forest approached smelling the thick blood spread around the area.


    Giving the fallen ape ast look, it turned around and quickly limped away cursing its partner for their downfall. The goblin promised it would crush that traitor''s skull if it was ever encountered again.


    Felix finally realized that the goblin had escaped and could only sigh in losing the huge number of skill points.


    "Sigh, it''s not worth it to follow that guy. Even weakened, that monster is still strong enough to easily defeat me so there''s no need to risk myself."


    In fact, Felix could himself feel getting weak right now. It seemed that using the skill ''Earth Spike'' repeatedly had made his mind slightly overloaded.


    He slowly came out from the ground clutching his head and walked toward the goblin mage that he had killed previously.


    Parting the bushes, he bent down and picked up the ck staff which he had hidden there..


    "Hmm...what should I do with this?"


    Felix stared at the weird weapon but didn''t know how to use it, so he shrugged his shoulders and decided to sell it in the city.


    "Whatever I''ll think about itter, but before that I''ll have to hurry and leave this ce."


    He didn''t forget Steve''s advice, which was to retreat after killing the monster as that would make the other monsters in the area gather from the smell of the blood.


    Giving the battlefield onest look, he turned around and ran in the direction from where he had firste at the cave.


    The whole struggle had taken two hours from when he hade here and followed the several groups of apes to finally participating in the battle albeit without making his presence known.


    Rushing back in the same direction, Felix escaped from several other monsters who were arriving at the scene as he couldn''t afford to waste his time fighting which would only make more of them gather.


    On the way, he could finally not hold back his curiosity and asked the system in excitement.


    ''System, show me my status'', he had killed many monsters this time, so he was expecting to save all those points and use them in the war to aid him.


    [Affirmative.]


    [Status]


    [Name: Felix]


    [Race: Human]


    [Age: 15]


    [Sex: Male]


    [Mage Cultivation: Rank 0]


    [Warrior Cultivation: Rank 0]


    [Talent: ¡ï¡ï ]


    [State: A better body but there''s still a ce for growth.]


    [Skills: Silent Steps, shback, Earth Swimming, Ratio Technique, Parabolic Hearing, Earth Spikes.]


    [Skill Points: 620.]


    His eyes read the status information before arriving at the skill points.


    ''Nice! With these many points, I can create some strong skills.''


    Clenching his fists in joy, he continued to run in the forest moving toward the city.


    *****


    Back at the battlefield.


    Several monsters gathered and excitedly looked at the dead corpses beforeing closer and feasting upon them.


    It was rare for such a big battle to ur in the forest, so the monsters didn''t waste the opportunity to fill their stomach with dead bodies. They distanced themselves from each other but still growled when another one came near to them.


    Suddenly, they felt a strong pressure descend in the area as a figure wearing blood-red robes appeared on the scene.


    It was not walking on the ground but instead floated a bit above the earth. The figure had its face covered with the hood of the robe but the monsters could still see those greyish eyes that made them terrified to not even make a move.


    Arriving at the middle of the scene, the figure nced around before speaking in a low cracky voice.


    "Ahh~ The delicious smell of blood...."


    The figure swayed a bit while rubbing its shoulders but then turned serious the next moment as a dark presence revolved around it.


    "Too bad I came a bitte, I wanted to see the one who ruined the ns of the great one...Moreover, that goblin proved itself to be weak so it should be better used for the ritual."


    Shaking its head, the figure raised its head and stared above at the slowly rising moons.


    "No matter what, our ns won''t change. This world will need a new ruler and we shall be the ones to sit at the top...."


    Its words seemed to be molded with power as the monsters couldn''t handle the sheer pressure the figure was releasing and fainted in their spots.


    "Let''s go, we have a lot of work to do...."


    The enigmatic figure uttered the words to itself, ascending weightlessly into the air before abruptly vanishing at breakneck speed, leaving behind not a single trace of its presence.

 Chapter 52: No more missions?

    Sprinting toward the city, Felix remembered the mission that he had epted from the guild.


    "I almost forgot about that....."


    He scratched his head and took out the mission scroll to look at the small monster drawn on it. ncing at the drawing of a small white rabbit with a red horn, he kept it back and eyed his surroundings while moving on.


    Sometimeter as he reached the vicinity of the city, he finally found a bunch of those rabbits.


    Bringing out his sword, it didn''t take him much effort to take their lives and hang them all together with a rope he had brought.


    He carried the few monsters and rushed to the city as the horizon slowly darkened, with three moons rising out in the sky.


    Twenty minutester, he could finally see the city walls. Jumping out of the bushes, he joined the other travelers on the main path and followed them toward the city gates.


    His appearance was a lot different than when he hade out of the gates. Blood was scattered on various parts of his clothes making the other pedestrians twitch in fear.


    But some of the people in the crowd raised their brow and nodded having thought that the boy must have gone for hunting monsters.


    Felix didn''t mind them all and continued walking, entering the gates by showing his ID card.


    *****


    In the Twilight Chaos Guild building.


    Elsa was walking around in the same line repeatedly. Her steps hurried with her face deep in worry.


    "Where is that boy Felix? I told him toe back before it gets dark.", her voice wasced with concern.


    The sky outside had darkened with three moons reflecting their moonlight.


    She nced at the clock in the reception hall and saw that it was already past eight. If he was just going near the city gates and hunting the small animals, then he would have already arrived by now.


    "Should I send a team to search for him or should I go there myself?"


    Her eyes looked around the hall as she nced at the other members who were leisurely sitting on the lounge, but suddenly a voice came through.


    "Hey Sis, what''s troubling you?"


    Roven walked down the stairs along with his teammates and asked Elsa curiously.


    She turned to look at him and his two troublesome teammates before saying in worry.


    "It''s about Felix, he had taken a mission to catch some small animals out of the city but he''s not back yet."


    Steve who heard that interjected quickly.


    "Oh, so it''s about Felix. I suppose he''s taking his time hunting those monsters.", he said somewhat proudly.


    There was a sudden decrease in temperature as Elsa released her pressure directly on him and asked with a cold voice.


    "Did you just say monsters?"


    The three of them jerked up and backed away a few steps as Steve raised his hands and spoke with a pale face.


    "Umm.....about that.....I think....um"


    He stuttered and realized he had spoken something he shouldn''t have said after remembering what Felix was about to do there.


    Elsa suddenly vanished and appeared right in front of him as she slightly floated above the ground and looked down on him with her frosty blue eyes.


    "Tell me, where is Felix and what is he doing?"


    Roven and Eric had already run upstairs leaving Steve, who gulped and trembled under her cold pressure before trying to answer her.


    "That, he.....Felix had gone to-"


    All of a sudden, the main door of the guild building opened revealing the slight moonlight that was shining behind the shadow of a figure.


    Felix, who had just entered had a smile on his face after he had sessfully sold the ck staff at a weapon store and had gotten a bit rich.


    He didn''t think the weapon was useful for him at any moment now and bringing it to the guild building would make Miss Elsa doubt about what he had said earlier, so the only option left for him was to sell it which made him arrive back a bitte.


    Steve, who saw that Miss Elsa''s focus had changed from him to Felix, took the chance and ran upstairs without looking back. He silently prayed for the boy and cursed himself for ratting on him unknowingly.


    The moment Felix stepped inside the guild building, he tensed up when he felt a tremendous pressure descend upon him that was much stronger than those Rank 2 monsters.


    A silhouette appeared in front of him with quick speed prompting him to reach out for his short sword. But suddenly, a soft body tightly hugged him making him take two steps back.


    "You rascal, where did you go? I was so worried about you..."


    Elsa pressed her body against his while he was surprised at the close distance and could only stiffen up.


    His heart started to beat faster only for it to jump when she pulled him by his ear and scolded him in an angry voice.


    "Did you forget what I said to you? The nighttime is dangerous and you should be back before it, but here you areing back thiste.", She left the hug and looked him in the eyes with her brows frowning.


    "Ouch Ouch, Miss Elsa. I got lost in the city and had to search my way through."


    He rapidly came up with a lie and held her hand that was pulling him by his ear.


    Elsa let go of his ear and hit his head with a chop softly before walking toward her desk.


    "Enough, I already know you were hunting monsters."


    His face changed as he hurried to follow her and stood at the desk. It seemed that she was not really furious when he had gone to do that.


    "Umm, I caught those animals from the mission."


    Removing the bunch of corpses whose blood had already dried and were tied hanging to his belt, he ced it on the desk.


    Elsa looked at them and asked for the scroll which he gave her back. She opened the drawer and took out the reward before handing it to him.


    "Deducting the price of the potions which was 1.5k for each, the four of them cost a total of 6k. And the reward of the mission is 14k, so here you go the rest 8k"


    The potions had helped him a lot in the battle with none remaining, so he didn''t feel bad paying for it.


    He took the money and kept it in his pocket before turning to go back.


    "Also, listen. This time I may have let it go, but you won''t be able to go out of the city again unless you break through to Rank 1."


    Elsa said as she red at him who could only helplessly nod with a dejected face.


    ''I won''t be able to gather more skill points now...''


    Later, she let him go as she had work to do so he could only walk upstairs back to his room dejectedly while thinking about what to do now.


    ''Should I spend the remaining days meditating and training? But I won''t be getting any more experiences before the war which will make me weak.''


    He pondered about it and entered his room. Keeping the sword and money in the closet, he took off his clothes and went into the bathroom to take a nice bath and remove all the blood from his body.


    Aftering out, he felt his hunger rise to the peak as he didn''t have lunch today so he hurriedly wore his clothes and went out to the dining hall.


    Coming inside, he took a te full of dinner and searched for a seat when a dark green-haired boy came into his vision who was deliberately dropping his head to look discreet.


    Felix walked toward the table and sat nonchntly, calling out to him.


    "Hey Steve, I think we need to extend our training session."


    The boy who was trying to hide twitched in surprise at the sudden approach and hurriedly apologized.


    "I''m sorry Felix, I didn''t mean to say that but it just came out of my mouth when Miss Elsa asked about you.....she must have beaten you right? I''m really sorry"


    "Huh? Well, I kind of suspected you would do that but she didn''t beat me or anything, just reprimanded me a little."


    Steve''s mouth opened wide at the preferential treatment, as he remembered how she had beaten the three of his team when they made any trouble. He shook his head and sighed in envy.


    "Is this what you get for being handsome? There''s no justice in this world at all, we ugly boys can only hope women don''t hate us for being who we are."


    "In fact, I could get manydies to fall for me. The trick for that is to....."


    The chatterbox seamlessly started his rambling without showing a bit of dy, but Felix wasn''t in the mood to listen to his crap so he interrupted.


    "Wait Steve, like I said earlier. We should do more training."


    He raised his brow and asked.


    "Are you worried about the war?", he had guessed it right.


    "I mean I''ve never taken part in it and I don''t know anything about it, so I wanted to train and get stronger as much as I could before taking part in it."


    Steve nodded hearing the reason for his unease and suddenly his eyes lit up thinking about a way to get stronger quickly.


    "I suddenly got a nice idea to grow strong quickly but it''ll be a bit dangerous. What do you think?"


    Felix frowned at his answer and thought for a second.


    ''The war takes ce in about 18 days and I''ll be able to participate only if I reach Rank 1. The usual meditation and training are not proving to be able to do that either, then whatever idea he is saying may be the only way for me to get stronger now.''


    With a determined gaze, his serious eyes met with Steve''s excited eyes.


    "And what''s that idea of yours?......"

 Chapter 53: Secret Plan.

    Steve took a deep breath and turned around to see if anybody was eavesdropping on them.


    After he had made sure of it, he brought himself closer to Felix from across the table and spoke with a hushed voice almost as if telling something forbidden.


    "What I''m about to say to you must be kept between the two of us, okay? The only reason I''m telling you this is because I know you won''t reveal this to anyone."


    Felix gulped hard and nodded solemnly.


    "Go on, I''m listening."


    Steve again made sure no one was hearing them talk and coughed twice before revealing the n to him with an intense look in his eyes.


    "Cough- Cough-, the n that I''m talking about is; participating in the underworld battles that take ce in the most secretive and hidden parts of this city."


    "Underworld battles?", his voice seemed eager at the thought of fighting.


    "Yes, taking part in it does not need much qualifications or verification of our identities as it''s a way of entertainment for the people from the underworld."


    "The winner of every battle will get rewards from the arena and the public may also gift them if they were impressed with their performance."


    His breath got hurried with desire in his eyes as he continued.


    "What makes it even more enticing," he exined with enthusiasm, "is that the rewards you amass through battles can be used to buy treasures, including rare medicines, powerful battle arts, and an array of coveted items typically exclusive to the hidden ck market of the underworld."


    Felix was intrigued when he heard he could buy treasures that could help him get stronger including taking part in battles that would help him gain experience.


    His thoughts roamed around then asked him a question he was puzzled about.


    "If it''s such a secretive matter, then how is it possible for you to know about it?"


    Steve was surprised at the inquiry then his face turned troubled on how to answer that.


    "Uhh, well you see.....there was this friend of mine who''s familiar with the underworld and he was the one who introduced the ce to me."


    "Anyways, what do you think about it? Are you interested in taking part in the arena battles?", he made an excuse and quickly diverted the topic by asking him.


    Felix took his time and pondered about it while he ate the food.


    ''If what he says is right, then I''ll be able to improve my techniques to fight with a sword in those battles. Also, my average talent may not allow me to advance to the first rank that easily, so buying those medicines and treasures is a must.''


    After some minutes of deep thought, he resolved himself and answered to the awaiting boy.


    "I''ll take part in the underworld arena battles....."


    Steve nodded as a smile surfaced on his face including an excited look in his eyes for the uing fun they were going to have.


    "Tomorrow I won''t be having any missions, so we''ll be going there after breakfast. Is that okay?"


    Felix agreed as even though he could hardly stop himself from going there right now to take part in the fights, he was exhausted from today''s mission. So, going there tomorrow after resting for the day was the best option.


    The both of them had their lunch while quietly discussing their n and parted from the dining hall, going back to their rooms.


    Laying on the bed, Felix thought about today''s gains and happily hummed a song while imagining various skills he should create in the future.


    ''Some skill points must be saved for the uing war, but tomorrow I should analyze my shorings in the battles and create a skill that will help me fight well with the sword.''


    ''I can''t be using skills like Earth Swimming and Earth Spikes in front of the spectators.''


    The battles in the arena would be under the public''s vision which would hinder him from using some of his skills. That was why he had thought to create a skill that would prove to be useful in the battles without raising any suspicions.


    His tired mind gradually sumbed to slumber, eagerly anticipating the wonders that awaited him in the mysterious underworld of this strange and unfamiliar world.


    *****


    The next morning.


    On the second floor''s staircase.


    Two figures could be seen fidgeting sneakily while whispering to each other. They were keeping an eye on the floor they were in while slowly going downstairs.


    Steve bent his head below and surveyd the surroundings trying to look for a figure.


    "It''s safe. I''ve had calcted in the past about Miss Elsa''s schedule, so she must be in her room about right now.", he sighed in relief and proudly boasted.


    Felis rolled his eyes and also sighed in relief.


    Their only obstacle to participating in the underground battle was Miss Elsa who had warned him from leaving the city and getting into dangerous situations again.


    Steve waved his hand and motioned to follow him before taking sneaky steps toward the reception hall.


    The two boys tip-toed into the hall, moving all the way to the main door without alerting any of the guild members.


    They pressed the card at the door and rushed out before it could fully open, making the people sitting in the hall tilt their heads in confusion at the sudden opening of the door.


    Sitting in the lounge, the crowd looked at each other with pure confusion. Some of them got up and checked if anyone was there at the door, but the two boys had already run out to the streets without wasting any time.


    A few minutester, in the middle of the street.


    Felix and Steve blended into the crowd and made sure no one had noticed them sneaking out of the guild building.


    They eyed each other and continued walking further before joining together.


    "Let''s go, I''ll take you there."


    Steve led the way and walked ahead, patting his chest like he was some travel guide.


    The duo went on walking in the streets, traversing many narrow streets and suddenly taking a turn into a path that was going deeper into the dark alleys.


    Felix looked around and remembered when he had stumbled upon a tent that looked like a circus. The dark alleys were giving the same vibes as that time but he was sure this was a different path.


    Their footsteps and the slight caws of the birds were the only thing they could hear right now as the silent alley made him alert.


    "Steve, are you sure we are on the right path?"


    His question seemed to have made the boy smirk as he replied.


    "I know I may act stupid sometimes but make sure to remember that I never forget my way.", his tone confident.


    He could only shrug now and follow him as they traveled in a zig-zag manner around the streets.


    ''Damn! Aren''t we just moving around in circles? I also forgot to bring my map. Sigh.....I just hope we don''t get lost....''


    They continued walking for some more time, and just when he was about to start cursing the boy for forgetting his way, he heard him say out loud.


    "Huff! Finally, we reached our destination...", he sounded exhausted but also a bit relieved.


    Getting surprised, Felix stopped in his spot and looked around at their surroundings, before showing a stunned expression and blinking to make sure he was seeing right.


    "What the hell-"


    He couldn''t help but let out a string of colorful curses, utterly bbergasted by the absurd ce they had stumbled into.

 Chapter 54: The Underworld.

    Felix could swear that he had never seen such a deserted ce before.


    On all sides, the buildings appeared weathered and decrepit, their walls marred by time and neglect, while a motley crew of rats and other creatures skittered about.


    Sunlight struggled to pierce through the narrow alley, rendering it a forsaken ce that hardly seemed fit for human presence.


    A slight hot wind blew away picking up sand and dust in the area, with absolutely no human in sight.


    ncing around the ce, Felix scratched his head and questioned the only person that was present there.


    "Umm Steve, did you really not forget the way?"


    The boy only smirked and walked ahead toward a sewer manhole that wasid just in front of them.


    He bent down and rotated the manhole cover in a specific manner, then a ''pop'' like sound came from it before he pulled out the cover and kept it to the side.


    Turning around, he pointed to the hole that revealed itself and grinned at the confused boy.


    "Look! We can enter the underworld from here."


    Felix nodded awkwardly as he thought they were literally going into the underworld right now.


    "Come on, follow me", he said and went into the hole by holding and climbing down on the steel bars on the side of the manhole.


    Staring at the dark hole, Felix took a deep breath and slowly stepped down following Steve.


    "Also, be sure to close the cover after you get in.", his voice came from below.


    Felix reached out and firmly gripped the cover, sliding it above him and sealing the entrance once his entire body was safely inside.


    Although their vision turned dark, it didn''t stop them from climbing down the steel bars.


    "Cling~ Cling~"


    Steve descended to the ground level, and Felix followed suit, finding themselves in a long and narrow corridor.


    They walked ahead for a few minutes before a door appeared in front of them.


    Steve pushed the door open, leading Felix into a square-shaped and closely sealed room where they were greeted by the sight of two men in brown robes seated around a table.


    "Stop right there!"


    One of them stood up and strode forward with a guarded expression on his face.


    "What do you think about art in the form of blood?"


    Felix got confused, meanwhile, Steve shed a knowing smile at his question and winked before answering.


    "It makes me want to choke you to death."


    The man nodded and rxed before going back to his seat and signaling to his partner.


    Nodding, the other man stood up, walked toward one of the walls, and whispered a chant at it.


    Suddenly, the wall on the opposite side of the door from where they had entered started to glow slightly. The red-bricked walls started to morph and change before taking the form of another door.


    The man gripped the door''s handle and swung it open with a grand gesture, inviting them inside.


    "Wee to the Underworld; we trust you''ll have an unforgettable stay," he said with a sinister grin, gesturing for them to step forward.


    Steve grinned and elbowed Felix.


    "Having second thoughts, are you?" he inquired, a mischievous tone to his voice.


    Felix drew a deep breath, dispelling his nervousness, and confidently shook his head.


    "No. I''m alright."


    "Then let''s go.", he replied and boldly strode forward into the door.


    Felix nced around at the room onest time before he chased after him and walked past the door.


    Once they were both inside, the man closed the door behind them and began to chant incantations once more.


    The door began to morph and shift until it seamlessly blended back into the red-bricked walls as if the door had never existed in the first ce.


    *****


    Felix and Steve found themselves in a wide hallway with many doors like the one they juste from.


    asionally, the doors would swing open, allowing other people to enter the space. These people moved in silently, treading softly as they continued on their way.


    "We''ve finally made it into the underworld. This location serves as the main entry and exit point, connecting to the numerous doors leading to thework of sewers that converge here."


    He gestured towards the surroundings, then continued to stride forward, following the flow of people who were gradually dispersing from the area.


    As they exited the wide hallway, they found themselves in a vast, dimly lit area buzzing with chatter. The ceiling soared high, about 10 meters up, and there were some cool artifacts hanging up there, providing bits of light. The whole ce had this mysterious, dark vibe going on.


    "And this....is the ck market..."


    Felix widened his eyes at the strange scene and wondered.


    ''Wow...so this is how the ck market looks...''


    The ce had vendors, cloaked in shadow, peddling their wares with hushed voices and discreet gestures. Stalls and more stalls of rare and illicit merchandise stretch into obscurity.


    Colorful and mysterious trinkets hang from makeshift canopies, casting eerie, dancing shadows on the cobblestone pathways. Mysterious potions simmer in ornate vials, each promising unattainable powers.


    Haggling customers and elusive patrons negotiate beneath hooded cloaks and behind masks, their identities shielded by the shroud of secrecy.


    In this thriving den of iniquity, anything can be bought or sold¡ªforgotten artifacts, cursed relics, forbidden scrolls, and even secrets that could topple kingdoms.


    Felis looked around in awe as he could not see an end to the market as many people walked about.


    Remembering something, Steve pulled him to a short distance and stopped in front of a quirky stall with many strange objects on disy.


    "Felix, we should buy some masks to hide our identities for safety purposes.", he said in a serious voice.


    Felix liked that idea and nodded before looking around the stall for some masks. The stall had an old and ugly man who was reading through some notes without ncing at his customers.


    There was no need to be scared of someone robbing the shops as the rules of the underworld were very strict making anyone hardly escape from there after stealing.


    Both boys cast curious nces around the assortment of objects, their eyes drawn to an array of masks. After a moment of contemtion, each of them made their selection, choosing a mask of their liking.


    Steve had chosen a full-face green mask with two small horns atop it to go well with his same-colored hair. On the other hand, Felix pondered a lot and chose a ck mask with red designs, that covered the upper part of his face including his hair.


    There was no need to mention that his silver hair was already striking in attention, so he had chosen a mask to hide it as anyone could easily tell it was him from his hair alone.


    They paid for their purchase which wasn''t much and walked into the crowd looking around at the various stalls and people.


    "Should we look around more in the ck market or head straight to the arena?", Steve asked as they were just looking at all the items around them and wasting their time.


    Felix nced around at the amazing and strange pieces of stuff being sold at the stall and thought for a second before agreeing.


    "We should head to the arena. While these items are cool, my wallet''s feeling a bit light," he said with an empty tone, observing the generally high prices and unusual nature of the merchandise on disy.


    Nodding at him, Steve walked ahead and turned toward a different path where numerous people were going. Felix followed him not losing his way in the crowd and walked for a few minutes before stopping.


    A strange and massive entrance could be seen at the end of the path where everyone was entering with bated breaths.


    Up above the entrance, bold and menacing letters spelled out "ARENA," exuding an aura of bloodthirstiness and cruelty that sent shivers down the spines of those who gazed upon them.


    Steve turned towards him, his usual lighthearted behavior reced by an uncharacteristic seriousness.


    "Remember Felix, after entering make sure to not get into fights with anybody unless you''re in the arena. Because most of the people whoe here are wicked and cruel who may not even care about the rules and attack if they get angry."


    Felix thought of what he said and nced around. There were many figures wearing masks and hoodspared to others who were showing their faces.


    And even among the people who were showing faces, some of their faces looked strange with additional objects and makeup to conceal their identities.


    Everyone including them had dark colored clothes and moved silently without causing any trouble but their eyes revealed slight caution and alertness as they kept a distance from the surroundings.


    Seeing the boy nod getting the gist of the situation, Steve did not dy any longer and pulled him slowly into the giant entrance of the arena where they were going to take part in the underworld duels.


    As they crossed into the entrance, the thunderous roar of cheers assaulted their ears, causing their hearts to race in response.


    The pungent odor of blood permeated the air, creating an atmosphere so oppressive that it threatened to overwhelm the faint-hearted.


    Felix drew in a deep breath, his gaze fixated on the crazy spectacle before him.


    "Holy fuc*! I''m going to fight there?!!"

 Chapter 55: Arena.

    The entrance they upied granted them an elevated perspective, overlooking a sprawling scene below. Multiple arenas stretched out before them, bathed in some artifact''s lighting, drawing crowds of spectators to gather around each one.


    A stairway led them downstairs to the ground level from where they could walk toward every match happening there.


    People rushed here and there taking in the sight of numerous fights and grouped around the battle that seemed to be the most intense.


    At some corners, there were cubicles where a lot of people lined up to bet their money on the fights in hopes to earn a fortune.


    While the ck market section was already a chaotic hub, the arena took it to a whole new level.


    Here, you could witness actualbatants duking it out making their blood mingle with their sweat and fall onto the stage, and sometimes even the spectators themselves getting into brawls for all sorts of stupid reasons.


    Making sure their masks and robes were perfectly hiding their true face as a lot of people eyed them the moment they entered, the two boys treaded downstairs and moved toward one of the arenas.


    "Felix, before taking part in battles I think you should look around the many arenas and see for yourself the rules and methods of this ce.", Steve spoke while ncing around the ce like he was looking for someone.


    Frowning as he could not seem to find the one, he rubbed his chin and told the boy.


    "I''m going to meet with someone for now, so how about you spectate alone until Ie back?", he suggested.


    "Alright, you can go while I''ll be watching the fight in that arena." Felix nodded and pointed toward an arena with arge number 4 written at the side to identify the many arenas.


    "I''ll be back in a few minutes, so wait there for me."


    Steve replied and swiftly blended into the bustling crowd, his presence disappearing in a matter of moments.


    Left all alone, Felix silently walked toward the round arena and took a seat eyeing the battle that had not yet started.


    The moment he set his eyes on the stage, his eyes widened at the strange yet familiar clothing of a person standing in the middle there.


    ''You have that here too?''


    A man wore a ck suit like the one a groom would wear at his wedding, and also the kind of formal suit he was wearing just when he died in his previous life on the way to his workce.


    Wearing a ck suit with a white shirt inside and a ck tie around his neck, the man also wore ck sunsses standing in the middle of the arena stage holding a red and green g in his hands.


    ''He must be the referee'', he mused and turned toward the other two people on the stage.


    A huge man with a big axe and a slim man grasping a sword. These were the two fighters that were about to start their battle.


    They wore light armor on them and also had masks hiding their faces. Both of them were stretching and getting ready.


    Seeing that they had finished, the referee moved forward and announced.


    "On the left side, we have the axe wielder Drabby while on the right side, we have the sword wielder Remosy.", he bellowed as the crowd too raised their voices shouting praises and curses.


    "Go get that thin asshole, Drabby!"


    "You can do it Remosy! That fatty''s gonna be an easy win."


    "Shut the fuck up you bastard! Look at that axe, it''s gonna crush that small sword!"


    "You shut the fuck up moron! Don''t you know that bigger makes it harder?"


    Felix almost let out augh hearing them shout out loud but held himself back and just pped his forehead with a wry smile.


    ''That''s the first time I''ve heard someone curse so casually in this world.''


    Already used to the way of the crowd, the referee eyed the two of the fighters and asked.


    "Are the both of you ready?"


    His words made them stop their stretching and take a battle stance while nodding at him.


    Seeing them nod, the referee raised his hand with the green g, brought it down in a swift motion, and dered.


    "Then let the battle begin!"


    The moment his words ended, both the men jumped ahead with the huge guy swinging his axe downwards while the slim guy turned his body to dodge that.


    Their battle seemed to have made the crowd go crazy as they hurriedly started cing bets. With every sh of the weapons, they cheered and booed ording to the situation.


    Felix watched in fascination as both fighters shed, disying an array of techniques and expertise. It was evident that they were seasonedbatants, their movements and tactics revealing years of experience in the arena.


    They didn''t seem to be in a rush but were also not wasting their time as the spectators whistled and cheered at the fight they were watching.


    ''System, what are their ranks?'', he asked to make sure if he was right.


    [Both the men who are fighting on the stage are of mid Rank 1, while the referee is ofte Rank 1.]


    He raised his brows in surprise, he had guessed both of them right but could not figure out the referee''s rank as the man looked more like a civilian than a cultivator.


    ''Do the referees use an artifact to conceal their strength?'', he thought in amazement as those artifacts must be expensive.


    Thinking that the pockets of the underworld were quite deep for using them so easily, his mind was brought back to the fight as they started to get serious.


    He continued to watch the match in silence, remembering their methods of fighting and knowing the overall situation.


    ''Oh! They started using aura.''


    Both the fighters had their weapons glowing slightly as even their body started to get stronger and faster.


    Strengthening the body and their weapons was the basic use of Aura while manifesting it out of their bodies was one of the challenging ways to use Aura as most of the warriors couldn''t do that.


    Talent, hard work, bloodline, fortuitous encounters, and many other factors may help a Warrior in learning to manifest Aura. But newly advanced Warriors with no proper foundation and experience may not evene close to feeling Aura leaving out of their bodies.


    Felix looked on seriously frowning his brows, and made sure to not forget a single detail on the way they were battling in front of a crowd.


    Knowing he would get to fight on the stage with a huge crowd watching him, he felt a budding excitement.


    In his previous world, there were no such fightingpetitions where twobatants would fight without holding back and with the use of weapons and techniques that could easily kill.


    With the battle instincts and experience from his past life, Felix could dare say he could defeat a dozen warriors of the same rank unless they used weapons.


    In his past life, he used to fight mostly with just his hands and body, that too without using any professional techniques like boxing, karate, or any other. So, when weapons came into question, then the situation would get dangerous.


    His only hope would be to use his various skills if the opponent was a skilled weapon user since he was still a beginner with swords.


    Felix had his eyes lit up the whole time as he watched the battle with pure focus. So much so that he didn''t even notice an unusual man sitting beside him with a slight smile on his face.


    Drabby the axe user had forced his opponent to the arena''s edge, creating a tense moment in the match.


    Frowning seriously, Felix eyed the match contemting what would the thin man do with his current situation when a voice near his ear jolted him up.


    "I can see it in your eyes....," rumbled a deep and coarse voice, "an insatiable thirst for battles and chaos...."


    Hurriedly turning sideways and backing up a little, Felix was startled to find a man sitting right beside him, his presence having gone unnoticed until this moment.


    "W-What!!", Felix blurted out in panic as his hand quickly moved toward his sword''s scabbard while his mind rapidly processed the situation.


    ''This guy is dangerous! I could not even notice how he sneaked up on me...''


    Trying to act calm, he took a silent gulp and narrowed his eyes on the stranger all the while gripping his short sword''s hilt.


    "W-Who are you? and what do you want from me?"


    He tried to make himself calm, but there was this unsettling vibe the man was emitting that made him feel uneasy.


    The man just rested his backfortably on the seat while crossing his legs and turned back to stare at the match on the stage.


    "We''ll converseter; for now, you should see how the battle ends."


    Getting no answer to his question from the man, Felix did not put down his guard, but he was also curious about the match and thus turned back to the arena while still keeping an eye on the man.


    In the arena, Drabby was walking to the kneeling Remosy who could barely take a breath. The fight seemed to have reached the end with the axe user grinning and raising his weapon above him.


    "Who do you think will win the match?", the stranger asked as the battle neared its end.


    Felix was brought out of his daze as he remembered there was still this strange man he had to deal with before getting confused by the question.


    "Why do you ask that question? Isn''t it clear that the fighter with the axe is going to win this match.", he asked with a frown.


    The man just shook his head and curved up his lips, "It seems you did not notice it...."


    Felix''s frown got deeper as he turned back to the fight and pondered.


    ''What is he saying? Notice what?''


    As he watched the fat man bring down his axe onto the thin man, his eyes caught the reflection of a light.


    Suddenly, a sword moved at a fast speed before it reached the axe user''s neck and stopped letting out some blood.


    The attack was so fast that Felix remained rooted on the spot utterly bbergasted and confused at the sudden increase in speed of the sword user who attacked his opponent with a strike that signified the end of the battle.


    "Wait! What just happened?", he shouted out loud just the same as the crowd did.

 Chapter 56: The Mysterious Man.

    "And the winner of this match is Remosy!"


    The referee raised the red g and announced loudly as the crowd who were vouching for the thin man cheered in victory.


    While the fat man was rained curses for losing the match and making the people who had bet on him lose.


    Staring at the scene with confusion, Felix turned to the side and looked closely at the strange man.


    "Is that what you meant when you asked if I noticed something? Also, how did that guy strike so quickly?", he couldn''t help but ask.


    With one leg crossed above the other, the man sat on the seat reclining his back with a slight grin on his lips.


    He wore a dark trench coat over a checkered blue suit with a fedora hat atop his head.


    His light beard made him look young yet also mature.


    His deep gaze turned away from the stage as he took out a silver pocket watch from inside his coat, making a few paper bills fall off, but he quickly kept it back and nced at the watch.


    "Felix right? If you want me to answer your questions, then you''ll have to win your first battle"


    He said pocketing his watch before getting up and walking off into the distance but not forgetting to bid him farewell.


    "I''m sure you''re going to find me, so until we meet again...."


    Staring at the man who appeared elegant but was quick with how he walked, Felix was left pondering inside his mind.


    "Wait, how did he know my name..."


    The whole situation was confusing to him, making him think that what happened just now was more like a dream.


    Felix sat on his seat frowning until he heard the crowd cheering again as different fighters came upon the stage.


    He shook his head as he couldn''t figure out what to do now, the man didn''t appear harmful but there was this strange feeling every time he looked into his eyes.


    With a deep calm pair of eyes that hid a slight trace of evil, Felix could feel that he was no match for the man.


    Although he was concealing his face and hair with the mask, he felt that it didn''t have any effect on that man.


    Yet, he didn''t think the man would harm him with how he spoke and acted like a gentleman.


    ''What the hell is even going on....''


    Instead of looking at the new match that had started on the stage, he turned around to see if he could look for the man again.


    But unfortunately, he couldn''t even find the man''s back almost like he disappeared into thin air.


    As his eyes roamed over the crowd, he caught sight of a grumbling green-haired boy wearing a simr green-colored mask walking toward his side.


    "Oh, it''s Steve.", he thought and waved his hands calling the guy over.


    Noticing the boy waving his hands, Steve walked over leaving the crowd, and sat beside him.


    "How did it go, Felix? Do you understand the methods of fighting in the arena now?", he asked somewhat tired.


    Felix nodded and shook his headter before saying.


    "I did kind of understand how they fight but I was still confused about some things."


    Steve looked at the new match that was about to start and understood that one battle had already finished, so he replied.


    "Hmm, what were you confused about? Maybe I can help."


    Felix rubbed his chin while frowning and said.


    "That you see, the huge man had almost ended the battle while his opponent was on his knees."


    "But then suddenly, his opponent shed his sword with an incredible speed that he hadn''t used in the entire battle. By the way, there was also this strange man wearing a hat who sat beside me and said something weird....."


    Steve listened and nodded with understanding when he heard the boy describe the battle but then his face turned dumbfounded as he quickly asked him back in a hurry.


    "Wait-! About the man you''re speaking about. Did he wear a dark coat with a suit inside and carry a silver pocket watch on him while speaking in a roundabout manner?"


    Felix raised his brows at the perfect description of the man that even he didn''t take proper notice of but then nodded and replied.


    "Umm yes, he also had deep ck eyes while behaving like a mysterious gentleman.", his face looked impressed at the strange man who appeared like a calmke in the chaotic underworld.


    Steve''s face twisted sourly at the boy''s reference to the man as a ''gentleman,'' and he couldn''t help but scoff with a hint of annoyance.


    "Gentleman my ass! That bastard is nowhere near what you''re taking him as.", he clenched his hands in anger.


    "Hmm? Do you know who that guy is Steve? Wait, if that''s so, then you were the one who told him my name right?", Felix asked helplessly as the guy just bbered everything unnecessarily.


    Steve scratched the back of his head awkwardly.


    "Ugh...that I''m sorry Felix, you know I always get excited when someone talks with me...ehehe", his tone did not seem apologetic at all.


    Felix had a fed-up expression as he shook his hand and continued.


    "Anyways, about that guy. Mind telling me who he was and what''s the matter with him."


    Steve stopped his awkward behavior and sighed as he started talking about him.


    "That guy you see...is an asshole through and through!", he suddenly turned angry as he recalled what had transpired earlier.


    "First, he asks me to buy him bet tickets and then runs the fuck off the moment he gets his hands on it, making me have to pay for every goddamn thing.", Steve grits his teeth and curses.


    Hearing what the man had done that was so unlike how he behaved in front of him, Felix couldn''t help but make a silly face and wonder.


    ''Damn! Did that man just act mysterious to y with me?'', it was hard to believe he was fooled so easily.


    "In the end, I had to spend all the money I had and I also couldn''t find him in the whole Arena. But to think he had already met you....."


    Steve sighed again in frustration and finally told who the man was.


    "As for who that man was? Even I don''t clearly know about him. He approached me some years ago and told me to take part in the underworld fights, promising me lots of treasures and riches."


    He shook his head at this part and showed an angry face.


    "Turns out that he wanted to earn some money by betting on me losing knowing I was a clear newbie at fighting back then. Later, I got to know about it so he just made me a part of his small gang and we made trouble sometimes.", his voice seemed happy at how things ended.


    "Not going to lie but being with him made me learn a lot of things and I also got a lot stronger than I used to be. So even though he is kind of abnormal and acts like a prick most of the time, he can at least be trusted a bit in this crazy underworld."


    Felix nodded hearing it all as the chatterbox revealed everything without a stop.


    His mind becameplicated knowing about the man but he could feel that meeting him again would surely result in some better possibilities.


    "And what is his name?", he asked.


    Steve smirked as if he was revealing a secret and told him in a hushed voice.


    "Well, nobody knows his real name, but everyone calls him Mr.Dealer."


    Hearing that name Felix narrowed his eyes and thought in his mind.


    ''Wtf! Why does that name make me feel like he''s some drug dealer.''


    Shaking off his unnecessary thoughts, he stared back seriously at Steve and asked.


    "What do you think he wants from me?"


    Steve was left speechless as he was not sure what the man nicknamed Mr.Dealer wanted from the boy.


    Even though he had said to him that Felix was a battle enthusiast and had wanted to participate in the Arena as well as the uing guild wars, he wasn''t sure why the man would approach and interact with him.


    "Hmm...maybe he wants to see how well you can fight and improve here at the Arena. That guy has a strange hobby of making contacts with several talented people, so I guess he saw something in you that made him want to befriend you.", he answered not sure of the reason himself.


    Felix too wondered what could be the reason that man approached him.


    Seeing that Felix was in deep thought, Steve shrugged and turned to stare at the match happening on the stage.


    He was sure he hadn''t met that person before, so what made that man so sure that he woulde to find him?


    ''That man said that he''ll answer my questions after I win my first battle, but where will I meet with him? Even Steve seemed clueless about the man''s whereabouts.''


    Felix rubbed his forehead and decided to think about all thister.


    "Ugh...whatever, guess I''ll have to focus on what I can do right now."


    He stood up from his seat and started walking out of the sub-arena they were in.


    Steve looked at the boy leaving and called out quickly.


    "Hey wait! Where are you going?"


    He did not stop and continued walking as he replied.


    "I''m going to take part in the Arena battles."


    Hearing that, Steve also got up from his seat with his arms folded and asked strangely.


    "And where do you think you''re going to do that?"


    Felix all of a sudden stopped, and turned around before walking back stiffly.


    "Umm Steve, so how can I take part in the arena battles?", he asked with a polite smile forgetting how coolly he had walked out just now.


    ''This crazy guy....'', the poor boy who had lost all of his money sighed wondering if everything was going to be alright or not.

 Chapter 57: Participation.

    The boy who was etching to start his first battle on the stage was taken away by Steve towards a corner of the Arena.


    Felix looked around at the many stages where fighters were duking out with the never-ending cheers and shouts from the crowd.


    They headed in the opposite direction of the Arena entrance, eventually arriving at a spot with underground stairs, where a handful of individuals had gathered.


    Two bulky guys stood at the gate of the stairs with their hands folded and stopped anyone other than the required people from entering the ce.


    Steve went in front of them and pointed toward Felix.


    "He wants to take part in the Arena fights.", he said lightly.


    The two bulky men stared at each other and looked at the little boy, beforeughing out loud.


    "Hahaha, another sheep trying to be a hero?"


    "This is crazy! Do the kids not want to live anymore? Hehehe"


    Felix frowned and turned to look at Steve who only shrugged having no idea what they were talking about.


    He again called at the both, this time a bit annoyed.


    "Hello? Can you please move to the side? We got to go and apply for his entry."


    Surprisingly, the two men just shook their heads and moved to the side indicating the boys to enter.


    "Go on. It''s your life anyway."


    "Just don''t regretter."


    They had gloating expressions on their face as they didn''t care what happened to the boy.


    Steve ignored the both of them and entered the underground stairs along with Felix.


    They walked ahead, making many other people inside look their way surprised that another kid hade here to throw away his life.


    Felix got suspicious of their behavior but followed Steve regardless until they arrived at an office-like ce that was called ''Arena Management''.


    Steve bent down on one of the main counters present there and called out to a worker.


    "Excuse me, can you apply for his entry into the Arena battles?"


    The worker who was doing his work got up and turned behind to handle them but then frowned strangely when he looked at the boy.


    "Hmm, are you sure you want to take part in the Arena battles?"


    "Because...I don''t think you''re strong enough to handle other fighters. Also, what rank are you?"


    Seeing that they were looking down on him because he looked like a kid even though he was 23 years old in his previous life, Felix sighed helplessly and answered.


    "I''m still a novice warrior of Rank 0, but I can already fight early Rank 1 monsters on equal."


    The worker appeared surprised as he stared at the boy up and down before shrugging.


    "Well, whatever you say so. Not like you''re the first.", he muttered under his breath and turned back to take a parch of paper before starting to write down in it.


    "What''s your name?", he asked with his head down.


    Felix turned to stare at Steve who nodded at him and whispered.


    "Don''t worry. They have strict rules, so they won''t reveal your name to anyone except their superiors."


    There was nothing he could do now so he told them his name.


    "It''s Felix."


    The worker wrote that down and asked a few more basic questions like sex, age, and others. Felix answered all of them ordingly.


    "Is there an alias you want to use in the Arena?", he eyed the boy interestingly.


    Felix pondered for a few seconds and told him a name while raising the corners of his lips. Steve''s face looked confused when he heard the name but kept quiet.


    After getting the unusual name, the worker stood up and ced the piece of paper on an orb. It glowed for a bit andter dimmed before producing a card which he handed to Felix.


    "Take this card, it''ll record all the matches you''ve fought and calcte the amount of money you''ve won including other rewards. You can go toward that other counter and submit this card to start participating in the battles."


    Taking the card, Felix swiftly moved toward the other counter while Steve hurriedly followed behind.


    "Wait- That name doesn''t make sense at all, are you really going to use it in the fights?"


    The name that Felix had applied for at the counter to be used in the arenas was something Steve had never heard of. It was kind of a strange name to use considering it didn''t make much sense.


    Felix turned around and raised his lips into a smirk.


    "Well, the world makes sense only if you force it to."


    Steve stopped in surprise as he recounted what had been said and couldn''t help but feel impressed at the saying. It seems there was no need for a name to make sense if anything can be named as per your wish.


    Walking in a swift manner, Felix arrived at a different counter and told the worker there.


    "Excuse me, I want to participate in a battle."


    This worker too frowned strangely and stared at him up and down before sighing and taking the boy''s card.


    "How many battles do you want to participate in?"


    "Umm, just one for today."


    The worker then scanned the card on an orb and did some work, before handing it back.


    "There. I have applied your entry into the artifact which is the arena information tool. You only have to use this card on any of the artifacts over there and it''ll show the details of your battles."


    Taking back the card, Felix nodded and went ahead toward the many artifacts which looked like a booth stall but with orbs. Steve followed behind and instructed him properly.


    "Press that card on the ck orb over there and then type in your name."


    Felix did as he said and pressed the card on the ck orb.


    Another orb on the side which was a bit bigger and white in color glowed a bit before a holographic screen appeared above it.


    Felix was amazed to see such futuristic yet medieval-style screens and objects.


    ''So instead of TVs andputers, this world has these orbs of different kinds.''


    He was yet again fascinated with this world as it not only had magic but also several amazing gadgets that people of this world called artifacts.


    After the information on the screen was disyed, he could see that his battle would take ce at Arena Number 23 in about 10 minutes.


    Arenas with lower numbers like 1-20 are where strong fighters of higher ranks fight whereas arenas of numbers higher than that are where no ranks fight.


    Felix and Steve left the Arena Management office and went back upstairs to the Underground Arena while discussing the rules of the battles.


    It was mostly Steve who had started bbering.


    "See, there are basically two types of battles, the first one is the random battles that you have applied for where two random fighters of about the same ranks battle each other."


    "The other type is the challenge battle in which you can choose to fight any of the fighters in the whole underground but only if they agree."


    Felix listened attentively on the way as they walked out and near the exit, they again encountered the two buff guys.


    Just when they were about to pass by them, the two guys moved forward and blocked their way taunting.


    "Hey kid, try not to die. Because if you do then your corpse will be thrown into the sewage."


    "Also, don''t piss your pants if you get scared. The spectators hate that, and they maye and directly hit you."


    Steve and Felix paused their legs and nced at each other.


    Staring into Felix''s eyes, Steve could not find a speck of anger or rage, only pure calmness as if the situation did not faze him at all.


    Steve nodded inwardly as being angry in this situation was not the correct choice.


    If he was alone, then he might have started a fight with them or something, but staring at the calm Felix made him think that there was no need to get into a fight with some idiots for a simple reason such as this.


    Even though they didn''t speak while staring at each other, their eyes weremunicating.


    ''What the hell do they even want?'', Felix squinted his eyes.


    ''No idea, but I think don''t think we got time to waste on them.'', Steve indicated by touching his non-existent watch.


    Seeing that they were being ignored, the two buff guys clenched their hands.


    "You fuckers!", one of them had a twisted expression on his face while the other smirked in mockery.


    Steve turned to look at them with narrowed eyes for a few seconds, several violent thoughts running inside his head before shaking his head and saying to Felix.


    "Let''s go. We have a few minutes remaining before the match starts.", he sidestepped and avoided bumping into them. Something he had never avoided before.


    Giving them an uninterested nce, Felix walked away toward the various arenas.


    Now that they were totally ignored, the two men had veins popping out of their heads.


    "F-Fuck them."


    "To think they could ignore us!"


    Both of them clenched their hands and spat out hatefully.


    One of the two stared at the two boys walking away and suddenly his eyes lit up.


    He turned to the side and whispered something into the other man''s ear.


    The other man''s eyes gleamed in a dangerous glint when he heard his partner''s n.


    *****


    Steve and Felix had reached at the Arena Number 23.


    The arena was surrounded by little to no public as the previous battles were not that exciting, just brawling between weak fighters.


    This allowed them to quickly arrive at the stage of the arena.


    Steve led Felix toward a corner of that specific arena where there was a path underground. That path directly led them under the arena area, from where they had to take stairs and enter the stage.


    The end of that path had bright lights turned on, which was the lighting that shined on the Arena stage.


    Stopping at the end just below the stairs where there was a gate with an orb, Steve turned around and said in a serious manner.


    "Remember, if you think you''re not able to fight any longer then you can always admit defeat. And don''t think that admitting defeat will make you weaker or something, because only if you survive can you continue to grow stronger."


    "Survival over pride, always..", he could surprisingly say such good words.


    Felix closed his eyes for a few seconds and took a deep breath.


    Breathing out slowly, he opened his eyes while grinning wildly at Steve and spoke.


    "Don''t worry, I''m going there to win."


    Steve smiled in response and patted his shoulder.


    "Go on. Time to show the results of our training."


    Nodding his head, the silver-haired boy took confident steps and pressed his card on the orb which made the gate open. He continued to walk upstairs to the stage with his blood boiling at the mere thought of a duel.


    The bright lights from above made him narrow his eyes in resistance as a slight pressure enveloped him all around.


    He took that final step and finally strode onto the stage, officially kicking off his journey into the brutal andwless arena, where fighters shed without any rules holding them back.


    =====


    Ps:


    If you like it, then vote or write a review.

 Chapter 58: Alias and Battle Start.

    Felix finally stepped out from the stairs and adjusted to the bright light illuminating the whole stage.


    His visions returned which made him able to see the situation on the stage.


    There were two people standing on the white-colored floor. One was the referee in the middle who could be identified by the ck suit uniform and the other man on the left side of the arena was his opponent in this match.


    The man had brown short hair with a scarf covering the lower part of his face and woremoner clothes inside the blue lightweight armor on his body. He gripped a mace-like weapon in his hand and stood straight.


    When his opponent entered the stage, he was alert but when he nced at the boy his stiff shoulders loosened.


    "Cheh! So it''s just a kid I''m fighting with.", the man spoke out arrogantly while smirking at the thought that he had already won the match.


    Felix remained calm and observed his opponent, analyzing various factors that may affect the battle that was about to happen.


    ''Thank heavens he''s not a Rank 1, that would''ve made my first battle tough. Plus, the way he''s acting all nonchnt, he''s definitely underestimating me which works in my favor.'', he already started to think of various strategies to win.


    Both of them then began to stretch on the stage.


    Even though ten minutes had psed since Felix applied for the match, there was still some time allocated for thebatants to prepare before the fight.


    *****


    Outside the Arena 23.


    Two muscr men arrived, having followed behind the boys sneakily after giving their jobs to other workers temporarily.


    They nced at the match that was about to start and hurriedly discussed.


    "Do it ording to the n, alright?"


    "Don''t worry, today we''ll surely teach that arrogant kid a lesson."


    Both of them grinned maliciously and parted in different directions, heading toward the various Arenas in the vicinity.


    They carefully chose from their memories and approached some shady-looking people who were roaming about the ce and whispered something in their ears.


    Upon hearing the words of the man who appeared to be an arena guard, their eyes lit up with a greedy gleam.


    If anyone else had said this, they''d have dismissed it as a scam or fraud. Buting from an arena worker, it carried some trust.


    So these people who thought it was a great chance left the arena they were spectating, altogether moving toward Arena 23.


    Gradually in a few minutes, the spectator seats started to fill in making the two men smile evilly but they did not stop and brought more people to the ce where the boy would fight.


    And these people happily moved there thinking it was a rare chance for them to finally get some good deal.


    *****


    Back on the stage.


    Felix did not notice the growing crowd and only focused on his body to be in the perfect state.


    Sometimeter, the referee walked toward the middle of the stage and told both the fighters.


    "Time to start the battle."


    He took out a small orb from his pocket before announcing loudly in it making his voice reach the corners of this particr arena.


    "On the left side, we have the mace user Demiro who had won about 3 matches consecutively.", he spoke out enthusiastically.


    "While on the right side, we have aplete beginner who uses a short sword and goes by the name....", confused he tried to pronounce the name properly.


    "umm..as.....Phantom!"


    Felis grinned slightly when the referee announced his name but amotion outside the stage disturbed him.


    "Go fight go!"


    "Demiro and who was it? Phantom?"


    "Huh? That''s an unusual name."


    "Demiro! Beat up that kid who came up with such a stupid name!"


    The crowd below shouted and cheered in exhration and confusion for the first time together making their presence known in the arena.


    People who were already there from the beginning appeared surprised at the big crowd while Felix, Demiro, Steve, and the referee raised their eyebrows at the unusual situation.


    Looking at therge crowd, Steve muttered to himself.


    "What the fuck...even I didn''t get such a big crowd in my earlier matches. Is it because of that name? Phantom something?"


    Even the referee who was familiar with such things got confused but shook his head getting no answers as to why a crowd had gathered at some newbies'' fight.


    He looked at both the fighters and asked.


    "Are the both of you ready?"


    Felix and Demiro broke out from their surprise and nodded at the referee before taking a stance.


    Demiro had a grin on his lips thinking he was going to win in front of a big crowd and get popr among the people while Felix took a deep breath and made sure to not let themotion disturb his mind again.


    Without wasting any more time, the referee raised his green g and swung it down starting the match.


    "And the fight begins!"


    The moment the match started, Felix took off forward and unsheathed his short sword while activating the skill ''Ratio Technique''.


    Several lines appeared on Demiro who was standing around casually waiting for the boy to get near.


    When the boy was a bit away, he gripped his mace hard and brought it above his head before swinging it downwards with a lot of force.


    The mace moved against the wind and targeted Felix''s head but he quickly dodged to the side instinctively and approached to the right side of the man.


    Felix had his eyes focused on the conspicuous red segment of the line and shed his sword directly at it.


    Demiro felt his mace passing through the air and not hitting anything which made him widen his eyes and panickly step backwards.


    The sword finally made contact with the body and grazed the man making a long wound appear with blood escaping out without stopping.


    "Aaah!", the man screamed at the unexpected pain.


    His eyes bloodshot, the man became angry when a small kid could injure him.


    In anger, he started swinging his mace around to hit the boy.


    Felix hurriedly retreated a few steps back and watched the man getting calm.


    The crowd had turned silent when they saw how the boy attacked the man who was much bigger than him.


    They had already thought that this match would be a quick one and they would get some good returns from this battle.


    But ncing now, they were not sure whether their decision was right or not.


    Steve smiled when he saw that Felix was not the first one to get injured because getting wounds in a fight would make a person weak in due time.


    Demiro looked at his long wound and realized that he had underestimated the boy.


    "Y-You punk, I''ll be using my full power against you now!", he said hatefully and gripped his mace tightly while taking a serious stance.


    On the corner of the Arena, two buff guys looked on at the battle that was about to get serious with both sides being equal in power.


    "Bloody hell! Didn''t you say that boy would be dead in the first strike? What the heck is going on then?", one of two shouted at his partner in anger.


    The other man who had devised the n panicked and answered.


    "T-This...I''m sure the kid got lucky. There won''t be other chances for him now and he''ll surely get defeated soon."


    He clenched his hands in fury seeing that the boy was starting to sh with his opponent without any fear.


    ''Phantom or whoever! Don''t think you''ll be able to get off this stage that easily."


    The man thought as he decided to start the next part of his devious n.

 Chapter 59: The Scheme.

    On the stage, Felix and Demiro were having a battle so serious that they could not afford to pay any attention to the public.


    They shed their weapons relentlessly without a pause.


    Every time Demiro failed to attack Felix, the crowd would go on cursing him.


    "This mace-using fucker can''t even defeat a kid."


    "Bastard named Demiro, end the battle already!!"


    "Bloody shit! How much longer is that Phantom going to resist?"


    They didn''t know that Demiro was finding it hard to fight as Felix was always attacking his weak points which made it difficult for him to counterattack and always stay on the defensive.


    *****


    As the fight went on, two burly men at the edge of the arena discussed their n and stealthily made their way into the arena, approaching the seated individuals they had invited.


    The crowd who were here due to the idea of the buff guards were unhappy when they found out it was not as what they had said.


    When the man approached them earlier, he had said to them that there was a match with one side being aplete newbie who would surely get defeated by a fighter having three consecutive wins.


    This made them think of this as a good deal to win some money by betting on Demiro as he could easily defeat the little boy.


    So they emptied their pockets and ced their bets spending all their money in hopes of earning it big today.


    But the situation right now seemed hopeless.


    While they were getting frustrated, the buff men arrived beside them and whispered something again before leaving to the others.


    The crowd stared at each other and realized that it was the only option left, so they did it.


    *****


    The battle continued although in an unexpected manner.


    ''Shit! Shit! Shit! What the hell is happening?!?!'', Demiro shouted inside his head.


    He could not evene close tonding a hit on the boy who was fighting like a zombie.


    And it was true.


    He was really fighting like a zombie with only one thought.


    Felix had his full concentration on the battle as he knew the person in front of him was not weak but just a bit unprepared for the situation.


    The surroundings couldn''t break his thoughts anymore as his focus was purely on the battle.


    Blocking another attack from the mace, Felix leaned backward and retreated a few steps.


    ''None of us can attack the other. It seems we''re equal in power and strength.'', he thought.


    Demiro rushed ahead and started attacking by swinging his mace all around.


    Again blocking the moves and dodging them like he had done many times now, Felix started thinking of a n.


    ''It''s time to create a new skill...''


    He pondered and asked the system.


    ''System, how many skill points do I have?''


    [Ding!]


    [Skill Points: 650.]


    ''So it is 650 huh...''


    Felix didn''t stop fighting and swinging his sword as he started contemting what skill he should create.


    The kind of skills that he had in mind was something that could boost his overall stats or increase his proficiency in swords, but he was confused about which he should choose.


    ''Should I increase my strength and speed or try creating a skill thatpliments my sword attacks?''


    His thoughts wondered about but suddenly a strangemotion from the audience disturbed him making both the fighters on the stage retreat back and observe the crowd.


    ''What the hell-''


    Felix couldn''t help but curse hearing what the crowd was shouting.


    "Go die Phantom!!"


    "You''re a pussy little boy!"


    "Fucking kill the boy Demiro!!"


    "Phantom loser! Phantom loser!"


    "Just kill yourself, kid!"


    Felix frowned hearing all the profanities that were directed towards him. He scanned the crowd below and found Steve in his seat looking around with anger.


    "Hahaha kid, it seems you''ve displeased the audience somehow. Now there''s no way for you to win this battle anymore."


    He turned away from the crowd and nced at his opponent who had a huge smile on his face.


    Demiro was especially pleased that the crowd was cheering for him and cursing at the little boy.


    He thought they were impressed by his might, but what he didn''t know was that inwardly they were cursing even his ancestors for not winning against the boy already.


    Felix didn''t mind the man and just observed the public.


    ''I get that their n is to demoralize me, but for what reason? I''ve never done anything wrong that could make the crowde to hate me, so why are they doing this?'', he was confused but there wasn''t any answer that came to his mind.


    ''Why could it be.....''


    Felix nced intently at the audience who were not stopping their shouts like their life depended on it.


    His crimson eyes roamed over all the people trying to find an answer until his vision caught some familiar figures.


    Two buff guys who looked pleased with what was happening could be seen moving around the arena still inciting more people to start shouting profanities.


    When Felix saw them, he immediately understood the situation and gritted his teeth in anger.


    ''Those motherfuckers!-''


    His eyes started to glow in a dangerous light staring at the two men.


    "Sigh~"


    However, he took a deep breath and regained hisposure, preventing anger from clouding his judgment.


    ''Fine. So that was your n huh.....Then don''t me me for what happenster.''


    After getting to know what was actually happening all this time, Felix regained his bearing and did not let their n of demoralizing him take any effect.


    The earlier attempts to unsettle him by the buff men had been momentarily disconcerting, but now he understood that their intention was to undermine his confidence.


    Turning back at his opponent, he thought to take the battle to the next level.


    Without wasting any more time, he ran forward bringing his short sword in front of his chest.


    He had decided on which skill he had to create and thus dashed ahead meeting his opponent while calling inwardly to the system.


    ''System, create me this skill.....''


    Felix imagined the skill he wanted to create in his mind. The skill that would possibly help him win his first arena battle.


    [Affirmative.]


    [Processing the skill''s power scale....grading the skill....estimating the possible points required.....skill sessfully moduled.]


    [Ding!]


    [Skill Name:.....]

 Chapter 60: Battles Outcome.

    Just moments before Felix met his opponent''s attack, a voice sounded inside his head and a message from the system appeared before his vision, confirming the creation of a new skill.


    [Ding!]


    [Skill Name: Agility Burst.


    Description:


    Allows the user to instantly double their movement speed with a slowed-down mind, but ites at the expense of increased stamina consumption.


    Note:


    Excess use of this skill may result in dizziness and could potentially faint the user.


    Cost: 110 Skill Points.]


    [Do you wish to use 110 skill points and create the skill ''Agility Burst''?]


    ''YES!'', he shouted inside as the opponent''s mace almost reached his sword.


    [Ding!]


    [Sessfully created a new skill.]


    Right after he heard thest chime from the system, he subconsciously tried to activate the new skill.


    ''Agility Burst!''


    Suddenly, Felix felt some energy getting absorbed inside his body and his surroundings started to slow down.


    He could see with his eyes the nearing mace from his opponent who had a twisted smile on his face.


    ''So slow....''


    It was right.


    The mace appeared very slow to him. In fact, the whole world looked slowed down as he could hear strange buzzing noises from the crowd.


    As he surveyed the situation, a growing sense of energy depletion swept over him, jolting him out of his stupor.


    ''I can''t waste any time or else I''ll only harm myself.''


    Coming back to his previous serious mode, Felix tightly held his short sword and dodged the iing attack.


    He deactivated the skill and time returned to normal.


    Demiro lost his bnce as his attack missed its target, causing him to stumble.


    Felix retreated a few steps and dashed forward again toward his confused opponent, simultaneously activating his new skill.


    ''Agility Burst!''


    Time again slowed down and Felix could feel only his body moving faster. He also activated the skill ''Ratio technique'' which showed various red lines on Demiro.


    ''Let''s end this....''


    Grasping the short sword, he decided to finally end this battle.


    Felix dashed ahead and approached his opponent at a quick speed, finding the perfect spot to attack.


    Demiro and the audience were stunned to find the boy moving faster than he was before.


    "W-What is...."


    And before they knew it, he was already a meter away from Demiro, shing his sword at his chest.


    Demiro tried to block the move with his mace but the short sword moved in a zip-zap manner easily and made contact with his body.


    "sh~"


    A deep wound surfaced on Demiro''s chest making him grunt in pain.


    "Guh!"


    Felix did not waste the chance and kicked directly at the wound itself, pushing him down onto the ground. This made Demiro shout in more pain.


    "Aaaagh!!"


    Felix stood on the stage and gazed down at his fallen opponent, a bit breathless from having his energy depleted.


    Silence...


    The entire audience was stunned watching the sudden turn of events as they couldn''t evene toprehend what just happened.


    "Haa...haa...haa"


    Only the exhausted breaths of a boy wearing a ck mask could be heard.


    Felix turned to look at the referee who still looked surprised and spoke.


    "The match...is...done."


    Hearing the boy, the referee broke out from his surprise and nodded at him.


    He walked toward Demiro and checked his condition. The man seemed to have fainted and was not suitable for fighting anymore.


    Giving the man ast nce he walked back to Felix and raised his hand while announcing loudly.


    "And the winner of this match is Phantom!!"


    The silence was broken by the announcement as the crowd erupted in shouts.


    Not in the form of cheers but in the form of curses.


    "W-What the fuck just happened??"


    "Holy Shit!! Did I just lose all my money?"


    "No! I don''t believe this! How can this weak kid win?"


    "Oh my god! This Phantom is very strong!"


    About eighty percent of the audience who hade to watch this battle were people who were called by the two buff men and they were betting on the kid named Phantom losing.


    While the rest were people who were attracted by the crowd and joined in the fun.


    So most of these people were not happy that Felix won as that made them lose money from the bets.


    "Shit! How is this possible?"


    The buff man who had nned all this cursed as his face turned twisted in anger.


    The other man too clenched his hands and wondered how the kid won when he remembered the consequences of their actions.


    "H-Hey, don''t you think we should run....?"


    Both of them nced at each other before looking at the restless crowd.


    Their face turned pale as they slowly started to move backward.


    "Oh~ Are you thinking of running?"


    A mischievous voice made them jolt in surprise as a boy with a green mask appeared before them.


    "Y-You are that...", they stuttered.


    "Yes Yes, I am who you are thinking of right now."


    Steve spoke out while rubbing his wrists in an aggressive way.


    The two men panicked but tried to act calm and replied.


    "W-What do you want from us?"


    Pausing, Steve tilted his head and pondered.


    "Hmm....what do I want? Well..."


    He turned his head around and noticed the crowd getting restless. Abruptly a thought entered his mind making him give a sly grin.


    "Hehe, good luck saving yourselves."


    The two men got confused with what he said but he didn''t exin further and cupped his hands on his mouth before shouting toward the crowd.


    "HEY EVERYONE! THEY ARE THE ONES WHO TRICKED YOU!!"


    His shout echoed out loud making everyone in the arena turn their heads toward him.


    All from the crowd noticed the boy who was jumping about and pointing toward two buff men with an excited pose.


    "Wait- That man...."


    "He''s the one who told me.."


    "Wasn''t he the one who lied to us about this match?"


    One by one, all of the people who had bet realized the reason they lost all their money.


    "It was all because of them."


    "Those fuckers- Wait for me!"


    "You dirty liar!"


    It was a bizarre scene.


    Everyone from the audience started to run in a single direction, jumping on the seats and pushing others while making their way toward the two buff men.


    "F-Fuck this. I''m running"


    "Wait I''ming too!"


    The two of them lost their brains, their face pale and figure sick, they ran away from the arena with a huge crowd hurriedly chasing behind.


    Steve stared at the chaotic situation that slowly left the arena 23 and shook his head.


    "So this is what it means by ''you reap what you sow'' huh..."


    He turned behind to look for Felix and found him leaving the stage with a smile to the underground path.


    Steve''s face turned strange when he saw the smile on his face.


    "What kind of smile is that? Did he lose his brain too or something...."


    He shrugged and didn''t give it much thought.


    Giving ast nce at the retreating crowd who were like hungry wolves chasing their prey, he walked to the ce where both of them would meet.


    *****


    In the underground path that led out from the Arena 23 stage.


    Felix took short steps still holding his sword tightly in his hands.


    His face was slightly red from excitement and madness, thinking about how he had won his first battle in front of a crowd.


    "...that felt amazing."


    He clenched his hands, remembering the adrenaline feeling he got from fighting before a huge number of people who were mostly demoralizing him.


    The emotions overwhelmed him when he fought without caring for the crowd''s criticism and made them shut up from the final oue.


    He felt that he could get addicted to it.


    "I want to battle more.....", his words carried detectable unsatisfication.

 Chapter 61: Going Back.

    Felix exited the underground path and found Steve leaning against the wall, waiting for him there.


    There was a proud smile on his face like a teacher looking at his favorite student.


    He pushed himself away from the wall and spoke.


    "Nice battle out ther-"


    "I want to do it again!"


    Just when he was about to congratte him, Felix interrupted.


    Steve tilted his head in confusion and asked back.


    "Hmm? What do you want to do again?"


    Felix licked his slightly dry lips and told with a hungry look in his eyes.


    "I want to battle again..."


    Staring at the boy''s eyes, Steve felt hopeless. He sighed and reminded him.


    "Felix, are you forgetting we have to go back somewhere now?"


    Knotting his brows, Felix thought for a few seconds and remembered.


    "Oh, it''s time to return to the guild already? I couldn''t even realize," he eximed in surprise.


    Nodding in understanding, Steve replied.


    "In the underground, the people don''t care about the time. They sleep when they want, eat when they want, and fight when they want."


    There was a wry smile on his face as he continued,


    "The matter of time is irrelevant here, mostly because the sun and moon are basically not visible here at all,"


    "And the most important reason of all is because many of the people don''t want to go back to the world above the ground which ispletely opposite of thewless world here making them not give any care of the time."


    Felix had a thoughtful expression on his face as he understood what Steve tried to convey.


    It must be understood that the people who were part of the underworld and roamed around in thiswless ce were the notorious of the humans.


    The very reason they walked into the various manholes and entered here was to escape from whatever they had done in the surface world.


    While some may have different intentions and motives foring here, the most basic thing they all have inmon is that they had realized the consequences they had to face in the unfair treatment of the underworld where the strong preyed over the weak.


    Turning around, Steve called out to Felix.


    "Come on, we can go back for today. From what I''ve seen in your fight there''s still so many things you''ve yet to learn."


    He sounded unimpressed but was actually a bit angry when the boy had interrupted him earlier.


    "Huh what do you mean? Did I make a mistake in the battle?", Felix was really curious to know what he had done wrong.


    Steve began to walk away, waving his hand to signal for him to follow.


    "Let''s return first. We can discuss everythingter in the guild."


    Turning around, Felix took ast look at the arena where he had fought and muttered.


    "It seems I''m still not strong enough....I''ll have toe back tomorrow and battle again....."


    He clenched his fists in determination and went back, following behind Steve as they started to leave the Arena Hall.


    While walking, he could feel some people ncing at him from time to time remembering the boy who had just battled and won against a person much stronger than himself.


    Gossip and rumors about a person named Phantom who defeated an opponent three times bigger than him began to spread around, making the people in the underground excited to witness a neer in the uing battles.


    Steve and Felix were unaware of the talks going on as they walked out.


    They exited the entrance of the Arena and walked in the ck Market streets for a few minutes before arriving at the entry and exit point.


    Steve led the way to the same door they hade from and knocked on it.


    Sometimeter, there came a clicking sound from the door as it slowly opened from the inside.


    Felix could see the room where the two guards were sitting by peeking inside the door.


    The guard who opened the door nced at them briefly and motioned them toe in.


    Steve and Felix swiftly entered the room, with the guard closing the door and chanting an incantation at it to make it disappear.


    The other guard checked them for a few seconds for security purposes and let them go.


    Both of them then exited the room and traversed the sewage passageway to the manhole from where they hade from.


    Climbing the steel bars, Steve went first and rotated the cover before putting it aside.


    After Steve went out of the manhole, Felix climbed up and surfaced to the ground.


    The bright sunlight of the afternoon shined on the surroundings making him raise his hand and block his eyes.


    "See? We went there in the morning after we had our breakfast and now it''s noon already. Make sure you don''t forget that there''s no meaning of time in the underworld or else you''ll being out the next day."


    Felix nodded as he gradually adjusted to the zing sunlight.


    Closing the manhole with its cover, Steve looked around before removing his mask and hiding it in his robe. Felix saw it and did the same.


    Searching around they checked the way before walking into the alley they hade here from.


    As they were walking through the alleyway, Felix remembered something and asked Steve.


    "Hey, about that guy with the name Mr. Dealer something. Do you think I should approach him? He told me that I would surely go find him after my first battle but I still don''t have any idea why I would do that."


    Steve stopped all of a sudden almost tripping down but he held himself and turned around with a bbergasted face.


    "You can''t be serious dude. That man was just bullshitting whatever came to his mind, so you don''t have to mind what he says."


    He shook his head and sighed in exasperation.


    "I''ll be honest, if you ever start believing in him then that will be when you''ll start losing your everything. I was almost tricked by that guy but the smart me somehow...."


    Felix nodded and then looked strangely at the boy who had started his nonstop rambling.


    ''Sigh, here we go again.''


    Anyway, it was boring to walk in silence, so he didn''t actually care if the boy talked a lot right now.


    But Steve''s words were flying above his head because his mind was on something else entirely.


    ''About 13 days left till the guild war, until then I''ll have to get as much as strong as I can.....''


    With a strong sense of resoluteness, Felix decided to meditate, train, and battle for theing days until he grew a lot stronger and advanced to the first rank before the guild war.


    Because, only then will he be allowed to participate in the war.

 Chapter 62: Solo in the Underworld.

    The duo traversed the streets and finally reached back to the guild building.


    They entered the gates and checked around before pressing their card on the main door.


    "Creaak~"


    Steve pushed open the door slowly and nced around at the main hall. Finding nobody there, he showed a thumbs up to Felix and sneaked inside.


    Felix followed behind like a soldier doing a crime and entered too.


    They hurriedly ran toward the stairs without making any noise and went to the first floor.


    Stopping in front of his room, Steve turned sideways and reminded Felix.


    "Oh yeah Felix, we can''t go there again for a few days as I have some missions to do. Don''t worry we can go when I''ll have some free time."


    Felix paused opening his room''s door and stared speechless at the green-haired boy.


    ''Am I a kid for you to always be there beside me? I''m gonna go there alone tomorrow anyways...''


    Nodding at him, he went inside his room.


    He locked the door and started removing his clothes, before entering the bathroom and taking a bath to refresh himself.


    Coming out, he wore different clothes and went out to the dining hall to fill his stomach.


    After a satisfying lunch, he came back and started to meditate for the rest of the day.


    ''I should meditate for now and then do some training after dinner....''


    Spending the whole day in his room under the sunlight, he meditated until the moon came out.


    Later, Felix went for dinner and took his sword to one of the training rooms to practice his swordsmanship.


    Completing the day with exhaustion, he went back to his room and fell asleep all tired.


    ''Let''s sleep for now, there''ll be a long day tomorrow in the arena....''


    *****


    The next day.


    Felix came out of his room wearing a robe on himself. He slowly moved downstairs and checked around the main hall.


    It was five in the morning so there was no one in the hall.


    ''Good!''


    He still sneaked cautiously toward the main door and opened it with his card.


    The door opened and he swiftly went out.


    Coming out of the gate, he took a deep breath and rxed his excited state of mind.


    ''Today I''ll have to fight until I can''t...''


    With a motivated and resolute mind, Felix took steady steps moving toward his destination.


    He had made sure to remember the way when they were going anding back from the underworld, so he did not forget the way.


    Moving on the almost empty streets as it was still before dawn, he continued traversing in the fresh and cool atmosphere with slightly dark surroundings.


    He walked across the streets and entered an alley before going deeper until he found the manhole they had entered yesterday.


    Felix looked around at the ce and made sure no one was there in the area.


    Bending down, he rotated the cover of the hole in a certain way and took it out after a click sound came from there.


    He went inside the manhole and covered the lid back on the top before climbing down the steel bars to the ground.


    ''I should wear this now.''


    Taking out the ck mask he bought yesterday from inside his robe, he hid his face with it.


    The mask covered the upper part of his face and his silver hair, leaving his chin and red eyes visible.


    ''It''s better now....''


    After making sure his identity was perfectly hidden, Felix walked ahead in the sewageway for a few minutes and stopped at the door of the room.


    Opening the door, he stepped inside and moved toward the guards.


    There were two different guards than yesterday but they did the same checking.


    "What do you think of blood in the form of art?"


    One of the guards asked narrowing his eyes.


    Felix coughed twice to hide his embarrassment and replied with the chunibyuu-type answer.


    "Umm, it makes me want to.....choke you to death?"


    His expression looked really strange when he said that but the guard just nodded and went back to his seat.


    The other guard stood up and chanted an incantation near the wall making a door appear there magically.


    Felix stared at the scene excitedly as it was not every time he would get to witness such a magical scene.


    The guard then opened the door and weed him just like thest time.


    "Wee to the Underworld, we hope you have an enjoyable stay...."


    Giving the guard a nod, Felix walked ahead and stepped across the door making his way into the underworld all alone, unaware that he would one day be the most important person in the hidden underworld.


    *****


    After entering through the door, Felix arrived at the entry and exit point from where he walked out of it toward the ck market.


    The ck market was ever bustling with stall keepers shouting praises of their items and customers haggling for lower prices.


    "We have potions, drugs, and many other things!"


    "Come here and buy the strongest of the medicines that can even revive the dead!"


    "Can you reduce the price by twenty percent? I have a harem to feed..."


    "Huh! What do you mean you won''t sell it for free? Do you even know who I am?"


    The never-ending conflicts and disputes that riddled the area were, without a doubt, the fundamental traits of thiswless ce, clearly identifying it as a ck market.


    With interest and a bit of caution in his eyes, Felix roamed around the streets under the dim lights of the artifacts hanging from the ceiling.


    ''There''s so many things they''re selling out here that I can''t even identify...''


    Felix thought as he nced around at the items that were being sold on the stalls. The treasures were all shining in different colors attracting people like moths towards them, but he didn''t have the slightest inkling of what they were used for.


    ''I should hurry and create that skill ''Inspect'', but I won''t be left with many skill points left if I create it now.''


    He mused wanting to create the many skills he wanted and thought of how he could obtain skill points for that.


    Pondering, Felix walked in the streets of the ck market and reached the entrance of the Arena.


    Upon stepping through the entrance, his heart quickened its pace, stirred by the resounding cheers of the exuberant crowd at the peak of their excitement.


    Even the air inside felt charged, filled with bloodlust and tension, setting a serious tone in the atmosphere.


    Felix carefully walked keeping a distance from the people around and went downstairs from the entrance to the ground level of the arena hall.


    There were fights going on with a huge crowd in the area all around regardless of the fact that it was still just five in the morning. It made him wonder what Steve had said yesterday.


    ''What he said was true. The people in the underworld really don''t care about the time of the outside world.''


    ncing at the many arena stages, he made his way to the end of the arena hall and reached the underground stairs that led to the Arena Management office.


    He had expected to encounter the two buff guys from yesterday but it seemed they were not here as two different people were present here.


    The guards stopped him and asked for his identification to which he showed them the card he had obtained yesterday from inside the office.


    They checked the card on an orb and handed it back, giving him entry inside.


    Just after he entered inside, a voice from the side called out to him.


    "See, didn''t I tell you that you''lle to find me after your first battle?", the man spoke as if he was some fortune teller.


    Felix was surprised when someone spoke to him, but when he turned to the side, he became much more surprised almost feeling dumbfounded.


    "Mr.Dealer?"

 Chapter 63: Felix vs Orkida I

    Felix paused his steps and turned to the man who was leaning against the wall and smiling mysteriously.


    "Hmm, it seems that Steve boy has already told you who I am. Did he also tell you that what I say is always bullshit and you shouldn''t ever believe me?"


    Mr. Dealer pushed himself away from the wall and neared toward Felix while speaking in his ears.


    "So, what will you do? Believe in me or not?"


    Taking a few steps backward, Felix had an apologetic face as he said something entirely different from what the man had expected.


    "Umm I want to participate in a battle right now, so I don''t have time to talk with you. I''m sorry."


    Giving the man a slight nod, he turned around and went deeper into the office toward the counter.


    Mr.Dealer stood stunned in the ce as if he couldn''t understand what had transpired just now.


    After a few seconds, he finally reacted and blinked in a frenzy.


    "Wait, did I just get rejected by a kid?"


    The man scratched his head while letting out augh, and shrugged hopelessly.


    "It seems I have to build a nice reputation for myself huh.....", he spoke some sensible words but he knew it was going to be hard if he wanted to do that as his previous actions had already made his reputation reach the bottom.


    While he was lost in his thoughts, a manpletely covered in a gray robe and a grey mask approached him from behind and whispered in his ears.


    "We have dealt with the matter of those two guards."


    A smirk stretched at the corner of his lips as Mr.Dealer replied while scoffing.


    "Hmph! This is what happens when you make trouble with anyone I have my eyes on."


    Giving Felix who was hurrying inside ast nce, he walked out with the other person obediently following behind.


    ''Don''t worry, I''m sure you''lle to meter.....''


    While the man remained firm in his thoughts, Felix arrived in front of the counter and asked the worker there to let him join in some arena battles.


    The worker there checked his card on an orb and asked him.


    "How many battles do you want to join?"


    Felix''s eyes gleamed at the question as he asked back.


    "How many battles can I join in maximum? Also, how much time do I get to rest between each match?"


    The worker nodded as he knew he was dealing with a neer and answered patiently.


    "You can participate in as much as battles as you physically can. After winning a match, you''ll be getting about ten minutes to rest before your next battle starts."


    "Also, if you lose a match and faint on the stage then the referee will check your condition and automatically cancel your next matches there and then. Any more questions?"


    Felix nodded understandingly and asked a few more questions about the rules of the arena battles.


    In the end, he thought for some time and told the worker.


    "I would like to participate in 6 battles."


    A bit surprised, the worker looked up at the resolute face of the neer and shook his head.


    "Fine. But if you find that you''re not ready for the next battle then you can just not go there and the battle won''t take ce."


    Felix nodded at him and the worker entered the details of the match to his card before handing it back.


    He moved away from the counter and walked toward the artifact booth before pressing his card on the orb.


    Several information of about his battles were disyed in the form of holograms above the orb which he made sure to remember.


    "So my first battle starts in ten minutes at the 27th arena.", he muttered.


    Felix then kept his card inside and left the booth.


    He exited the arena management office and walked back upstairs to the various arena grounds.


    Not wasting his time anywhere, he directly went ahead toward the arena with the number 27 and walked down the underground stairs to the arena stage.


    He took out his card and pressed it on the gate at the end of the underground path.


    The gate opened after it scanned the card, letting him step up onto the stairs and enter the arena stage.


    Felix blinked his eyes, adjusting to the contrasting brightness of the stage from the previous dark path.


    He took a deep breath making his heart calm down and looked around the stage.


    Other than him, there was only one person there wearing a suit who was the referee of the arena.


    It seemed that his opponent had not arrived yet, which made him feel a bit rxed.


    Felix turned around and stared at the audience, finding that it was much smaller than yesterday with barely a dozen people.


    With still some time remaining, he decided to stretch his body to warm up his body.


    A few minutester, a person walked up from the opposite side and entered the stage.


    Felix turned toward him and stared at him carefully.


    "So that''s my first opponent today."


    The man straight ahead of him stood at a height of 2 meters and wielded a rapier in his hand.


    He wore green warrior clothes and armor with a brown mask covering his face.


    Swinging his weapon, the man stared at his opponent and revealed a hint of disdain in his eyes.


    "Hmm looking at your clothes, you must be a kid of some rich family. But this is a match in the underworld arena, so don''t expect me to go easy on you."


    Felix knit his eyebrows and thought.


    ''What the hell is up with this idiot? Does he think he''s some detective or something, mistaking me an orphan as a kid from a rich family....''


    Shaking his head, he didn''t care much about it and instead focused on getting ready as there only a few minutes left before the match.


    Seeing that the kid was ignoring him, the man frowned and harrumphed angrily.


    "It seems you don''t understand the difference between us. Then I''ll show you how it''s done."


    The man remained standing and didn''t mind doing any stretching as he felt it would be too much for handling a weak kid.


    After a few minutes, the referee walked to the middle of the stage and asked the both of them.


    "Are the both of you ready?"


    Felix stopped and took a stance while nodding at the referee while his opponent did the same but still stood in his rxed position.


    The referee saw that both of them got ready and thus raised the green g before announcing.


    "On the left side we have the rapier user Orkida who hade here just after winning a battle.", he said hyping up.


    Turning to the right side, he continued.


    "While on the right side, we have a beginner who joined the arena battle just yesterday.", there was a bit of strangeness in his voice as he told his name.


    "And his name is Phantom!"

 Chapter 64: Felix vs Orkida II

    The referee loudly announced the names of thebatants, making a stir with the small audience.


    "Wait, I think I''ve heard that name somewhere..."


    "Huh? Phantom? Is it the same guy that won a match yesterday?"


    "You''re right! It was said that there was a neer who defeated an opponent much stronger and bigger than him. This boy must be him!"


    There were surprisingly many people who remembered about the match that happened yesterday.


    This was mostly because the name of the winner was quite unusual and the fact that he had won against an opponent several times stronger had also made the match have many rumors.


    Orkida raised his brow when he heard his opponent''s name, a bit surprised, but that was it.


    He didn''t feel scared or have any fear knowing what aplishment the kid had done because he was stronger than that man.


    Narrowing his eyes, the man looked at Felix and said in a low voice.


    "Are you feeling confident after winning a single match? I won''t be giving you the chance to win like your previous opponent did."


    Felix turned to look at the man and shook his head before telling the referee.


    "I''m ready, please start the match.", he sounded hurried.


    The referee nodded knowing why the kid seemed in a hurry.


    ''This boy really applied to participate in six matches....''


    Knowing extremely well how exhausting and challenging it would be to participate in so many battles in a small schedule, the referee felt impressed.


    He turned to look at the otherbatant and asked him.


    "Are you ready?"


    The man who was ignored by the kid showed a furious expression on his face but nheless politely replied to the referee.


    "Yes, I''m ready.", his voice reeked of anger.


    Nodding, the referee brought down the green g he had raised this whole time while announcing the start of the battle.


    "And the fight begins!"


    Just when his words ended, Orkida dashed with his rapier to defeat his opponent but someone else was faster.


    ''Agility Burst!''


    Felix directly used his new skill at the beginning of the battle because he didn''t want to waste a lot of time on each of the fights.


    Both thebatants rushed toward each other, with one being faster than the other.


    Already activating the skill ''Ratio Technique'', Felix got to know the weak points of his opponent and that was where he moved.


    Getting to Orkida''s blindspot in a sh, Felix hacked his sword at one of the red lines that appeared on the man''s shoulder.


    The movement was so fast that Orkida remained confused about the whereabouts of his opponent when he suddenly felt pain coursing through his shoulders.


    Turning his head, he was surprised to find blood gushing out of his right shoulder.


    "AAGHH!"


    His rapier fell down from his right hand, as the horrible pain on his shoulder made it impossible for him to even move his arm.


    Clutching his shoulder in pain with widened eyes, he felt something sharp touching his neck as a cool voice reached everyone''s ears.


    "You lose."


    Taking a difficult gulp, Orkida turned to look at the boy standing beside him with fear.


    The boy''s face was covered with a ck mask, but he could make out those crystal-red eyes in the gap of the mask.


    Orkida could swear that he had never seen such an intense look in someone''s eyes before. Those blood-red eyes terrified him more than the sword at his throat.


    In a daze from the whole situation that transpired so quickly, he couldn''t even reply making the boy ask again.


    "Do you admit defeat?"


    Those words seemed to have made hime out of his thoughts as he took in a deep breath noting to believe that he had lost.


    Felix didn''t want to waste time anymore in this battle so he turned to the referee and asked for his interval.


    The referee, including the crowd, was bbergasted by the whole battle that took just a few seconds to end as they remained frozen in their ce.


    Upon noticing that Felix was looking at him, the referee came back to his senses and quickly raised the red g announcing the end of the battle.


    "T-The battle ends and the winner is Phantom!"


    It took a few seconds more for the crowd to realize that the battle had already ended as after that, they all went crazy shouting in frenzy.


    "W-What just happened."


    "Did the battle just....end?"


    "No way! I didn''t even see anything."


    "That was so quick! Is he really at the zero rank?"


    The crowd could hardly believe what they saw as the battle ended so fast that they could not even whistle or start to cheer looking at the fight.


    Most of the people who were present in the audience wanted to call their friends to watch the battle of the recently famous neer, but they stood still in their position wondering how they could even exin what happened here.


    Felix kept his short sword in the sheath and started walking back to the stairs that led him out of the arena.


    With a thud, Orkida fell to his knees and stared at the back of his opponent with listless eyes.


    "Did I just lose to a kid? That too within a few seconds?", he thought he was dreaming but the deep pain in his shoulders told him otherwise.


    It was the first time in his life that he had ever been defeated so quickly in his whole time of fighting other warriors. The amount of shock he received today couldn''t evene close to when his wife cheated on him.


    The referee nced at all this and shook his head as a strange gleam passed through his eyes.


    ''It looks like there''ll be huge waves in the uing days of the arena...''


    He looked at the fleeting back of the boy and thought about the more battles he had to participate in today.


    ''Crazy kid...''


    Ignorant to the shock that he had spread among the public, Felix entered the underground path from the stage and stumbled putting his weight on the wall.


    "Haa....haa...that was exhausting."


    He stopped acting all strong and took inrge amounts of air, calming down his beating heart.


    Using the skill ''Agility Burst'' had its own ups and downs.


    But he wanted to end the quickly, so there was no other choice than to use the skill at the beginning of the match and finish it in a few seconds.


    He knew it was a bit too much to have defeated his opponent in a mere moment, but the amount of fame he got from the battle was already a plus point.


    Because the more people came to watch his battles, the more reward he would earn.


    After a few seconds of rxing, Felix was back to normal getting ready for his next match.


    He exited from that arena and walked toward another arena a bit in the distance.


    "There he is!"


    Unbeknownst to him, there was a group of people who were searching for him all around the arena.


    The group of people were from the crowd who had just watched his battle. A bit curious about him, they had decided to follow him and see what the boy who won so easily was about to doter.


    And when they finally found him, they started trailing behind him toward his destination.

 Chapter 65: The Giant I

    Felix moved away from Arena 27 and walked toward the Arena numbered 31.


    Sneaking behind him was a hectic bunch who thought they had found a good fighter to bet on.


    "See buddy I''m telling you, this guy is a lot different than the others. Even his name sounds like someone doing shady things in the dark."


    Anky bald guy wearing a vibrant green robe eximed to the other guys while looking discreetly in the crowd.


    Another man who had his big tummy falling out from his robes rubbed his hands and frowned looking at him.


    "What crap are you on about, Dufus? We don''t care what the guy got in his name or pants, what we really do care if he''s winning or not!"


    The other men nodded, revealing their wicked smiles, while Dufus wore a thoughtful expression.


    "Oh, you''re right Henry. It''s fine as long as we get some money.", Dufus smiled sheepishly.


    The fat man Henry jumped about and pulled Dufus closer, his face turning alert.


    He scolded the guy in a low voice.


    "Are you retarded? Wait you actually are-", his face twitched but he continued.


    "Anyways don''t talk about money out loud, don''t you know what kind of cheap fuckers roam around these ces?"


    The other men too frowned looking around if anyone had heard them or not.


    "Uh sorry, maybe I got a bit excited ehehe."


    Dufus scratched his head making a stupid face and yet not realizing anything about it.


    Henry just shook his head and wondered when this guy was going to get himself sink in the infamous underworld sewage.


    "Let''s stop making a scene here and quietly follow that guy.", he told all of them who nodded at him.


    A few meters in front of them walked Felix who was searching for Arena 31 by asking other wanderers.


    "Oh you mean I''ll have to go straight from here and then take a left?", Felix asked a harmless-looking man who was taking puffs out of two sticks.


    "Come on...pufff...., how many times...puff...do I have to tell you?", the man took deep breaths off his stick and replied rolling his eyes dramatically.


    "Take a damn turn from around the corner here and walk down till you see a fucking board. You got that?", it seemed he didn''t really like giving directions.


    There was nothing Felix could do but give a forced smile and walk away.


    "Crazy man, he told me different directions four times..."


    Letting out a sigh, Felix nced around the ce and searched for some boards until a few minutester he found the way to Arena 31.


    Putting everything at the back of his mind, he walked toward the underground path that led to the Arena stage.


    Making his way straight to the gates, he disyed his card to the orb nearby, allowing him ess to the stairs leading to the stage.


    With his glowing red eyes, Felix stepped up and entered the Arena stage.


    "You''re finally here. There''s only two minutes left for the match to start."


    The referee nced over and reported.


    Felix nodded at him and started to get ready, meanwhile taking a look at his opponent.


    ''Huh? What the fuck is that!!''


    He widened his eyes looking at the fat man that towered almost 2.5 m tall and weighed more than a few hundred.


    The man didn''t wear a mask revealing his hairy face and violent look in the eyes.


    Wearing loose clothing, the man revealed most of his fat body parts and held no weapons except for a pair of boxing gloves.


    ''Am I going to fight with this giant?''


    Felix took a step back as he felt that there must''ve been a mistake allowing this man to fight him who looked as if he was stronger than most Ranked warriors.


    The huge man turned to look at the small opponent that had entered the stage and gave him a crooked smile.


    Felix shivered feeling like he was back at the farm when the pervert guy was going to assault him.


    ''You bastard, don''t smile like that!''


    Gritting his teeth, Felix looked away from the man and took deep breaths.


    Calming him down, he decided to not think about the past and started to do some stretches.


    At the audience seats, a group of people entered there holding betting tickets in their hands.


    They looked especially confident as if they''d already won the bet and sat on the seats while turning to look up at the stage.


    When their eyes fell on the huge man standing tall on the stage, they immediately felt something break apart in their minds.


    "H-Henry, isn''t that the man you said to be careful around?"


    Dufus stuttered recalling the horrors that this man could do.


    Henry took a gulp and nodded, his expression a bit pale.


    "Y-Yes, to think we ced a bet against him."


    Everyone made a regretful face and sighed at their uing loss.


    Henry twitched thinking what the guy they had bet on would face in this match against that monster.


    "That guy...Phantom was it? He won''t being out of that arena in one piece."


    There was fear in his voice, showing what that fat monster could do.


    Back on the arena, the referee walked to the middle of the stage and turned to look at both thebatants.


    "On the left side, we have Phantom who has won two consecutive matches and is still going on."


    The crowd looked around feeling slightly strange about this new name, although some of them frowned remembering the name.


    The referee faced to the side and continued.


    "While on the right side, we have...the Grashia who has not lost even one match from the beginning of his participation in the arena matches."


    The crowd suddenly erupted into a loud cheer, showing their support to the big man who was smiling in a creepy way.


    Felix didn''t mind any of this and instead focused on how to fight and win this match.


    ''The new skill can make me faster, and I can also find the weakness of my opponent. So this battle will not be much different from the other ones.''


    He made up his mind to end this battle quickly just like thest match and held the hilt of his sword, getting into a stance.


    The referee asked the both of them.


    "Are you two ready?"


    Felix and his opponent Grashia nodded, making the referee raise the green g in his hand.


    He brought the g down and announced loudly.


    "Then let the match begin!"

 Chapter 66: The Giant II

    As soon as the referee announced the start of the match, Felix rushed ahead using both ratio technique and agility burst skill.


    His speed increased a lot and several red lines appeared on his opponent, Grashia.


    The crowd could only see afterimages of his figure as he ran across the stage holding his short sword.


    When Felix reached his opponent, he didn''t hesitate and directly shed his weapon at the indicating weakness of the man.


    The shortsword hacked at the man''s arms, resulting in a deep wound to take ce.


    Felix smiled seeing that he had injured his opponent.


    ''Now that his weakness is dealt with, he won''t be able to fight properly the whole match.''


    This was what he had wanted to do and also had done in the previous matches.


    Once he had attacked his opponent''s weakness, then they would be fatally wounded and thus wouldn''t be able to exert their maximum effort in fighting.


    While he was thinking that he had already wrapped this match around, a gloved hand came flying through the air and hit his stomach before he could react.


    "Khuh!"


    Felix was dumbfounded finding himself getting punched hard, then flying across the stage, and crashing into the edge of the arena stage.


    He spurted out blood from his mouth and felt his ribs hurting all over.


    ''W-What the hell?''


    Raising his head, he saw the giant man cracking his neck and finger letting out popping sounds.


    There was a disgusting smile on Grashia''s face as he looked down on Felix making him feel terrible.


    ''How can he be alright after I attacked his weak point? Did it not faze him at all?'', he couldn''t help but widen his eyes in shock.


    The audience was cheering out loud making a lot of noise and those who knew about the cruelty of Grashia had a look of pity on their face, sympathizing with the guy who had to deal with that zombie-like giant.


    Henry, Dufus, and the group were feeling the most grieved because they had bet all their money on the Phantom guy, and looking at the match, they knew there was no chance of them winning the bet.


    "If only it wasn''t that giant he was up against...", Henrymented with a sigh.


    Back on the stage, Felix held his stomach and tried standing up while getting into a stance.


    He could not believe his attacks were not having any effect on him, and thus dashed forward again, this time using the skill to increase his speed as the giant was kind of fast even with such arge body.


    Reaching him, Felix again shed his sword at one of the weaknesses near his torso and blood spurted out from there, but the man didn''t care at all and again punched him away.


    Felix tried again and again but the man remained standing without even frowning as if all those attacks didn''t hurt him at all.


    A bit tired of attacking and then getting punched by the giant who didn''t try blocking and instead just hit back, Felix retreated near the edge of the stage.


    Frowning, he pondered what to do about the situation as his opponent casually walked toward him like he didn''t notice all the blood escaping from his body at all.


    ''What the hell is wrong with this guy? Does he not feel any pain at all...''


    Felix felt his mind go nk wondering what kind of opponent he had gotten who could not feel pain even after getting attacked at his weak point.


    Staring at his opponenting closer, he rapidly tried thinking of a n to deal with him.


    ''What should I do? If I keep on using Agility Burst to attack his weak points then that''ll be too much energy-draining, andter I''ll be too exhausted to battle.''


    Felix kept a distance from Grashia whileing up with a strategy to defeat him.


    ''If my attacks don''t pain him at all, then what am I supposed to do? Create a skill that''ll increase pain?'', he shook his head as that wouldn''t be a good idea and rejected it.


    ''I should try to save as many skill points as I can, and for that, I should opt to create nonbat skills overbat ones that would cost fewer skill points....''


    When his thoughts reached this point, Felix didn''t waste any more time and quickly trieding up with a skill that would help him in this situation.


    But it seemed that his opponent had waited enough as he started to rush ahead making his steps spread tremors across the stage.


    ''Come on think! Think!'', he grits his teeth while retreating, and forces his brain toe to a conclusion when his eyes suddenly lit up.


    ''That''s it!''


    Felix quickly thought of a skill and called out to the system to create it.


    ''System create this skill!''


    [Affirmative.]


    [Processing the skill''s power scale....grading the skill....estimating the possible points required.....skill sessfully moduled.]


    [Ding!]


    [Skill Name: Corrosion


    Description:


    Allows the user to coat his body or weapons with a baleful energy that corrodes and degrades anything thates into contact with it. The process is very slow and gradual depending on the target.


    Cost: 50 Skill Points.]


    [Does the host wish to use 50 skill points and create the skill ''Corrosion?]


    Felix quickly went through the details of the skills, checking whether it was alright.


    Seeing that it was what he wanted, he quickly epted it.


    ''Yes create it!''


    [Ding!]


    [Sessfully created a new skill.]


    Even though this skill was not the best for the situation, it was what he coulde up with in a short amount of time.


    Now that he had created a new skill to face his opponent, Felix decided to attack again.


    He took a stance and waited for Garshia to reach near him.


    Calcting the steps, he quickly dashed ahead using the Agility Burst skill and arrived behind him.


    Holding his shortsword tightly, he jumped above and stabbed at the red line that had appeared on Grashia''s torso.


    "Squelchh!"


    The sword entered deep into Grashia''s body soaking his clothes with blood but as usual, there was no reaction of pain from him as a slight smile remained on his face.


    Looking at his opponent''s carefree appearance, Felix raised the corner of his lips into an evil grin and used his new skill.


    ''Corrosion!''


    Suddenly, Felix felt something invisible eject from his body which he controlled and moved to his weapon that remained deep inside Grashia''s torso.


    "Khuh!"


    A pained groan escaped from Grashia''s mouth as he quickly turned around in panic and threw a punch.


    Felix had already anticipated the attack and thus swiftly backed away taking out his shortsword from his opponent''s body.


    Feeling a slight difort at the back of his body, Grashia frowned and red at Felix before speaking for the first time in the whole match.


    "You...How did you hurt me?", he asked as it was the first time for him feel that kind of pain.


    Felix swung his sword shaking off the blood and replied back sarcastically with a smirk.


    "With my sword of course."


    Grashia''s face twisted in anger when he didn''t get the answer and he clenched his hands before rushing towards Felix.


    "Okay, it''s time to end this."

 Chapter 67: The Giant III

    Grashia tookrge steps and made his way toward Felix who was ncing all around the stage looking for the perfect opportunity.


    ''There!''


    Just when Grashia had raised his arm tounch a punch ahead, Felix quickly reacted and dashed forward using Agility Burst.


    He bent his body down and went through under Grashia''s arm reaching his back.


    Gripping the shortsword tightly, he didn''t try anything fancy and just stabbed it deep inside the red mark that had appeared on Grashia''s underarm.


    As soon as he inserted the sword, he swiftly channeled the baleful energy of corrosion and made it seep inside through his sword.


    Grashia''s face changed when he again felt the horrible feeling that was going through his body.


    He swung his arms in a frenzy wanting to push away the hateful guy that was putting him through this horrible pain.


    Felix was already ready for the counterattack and had nned ahead.


    Before Grashia could hit him, he had taken out his sword and quickly moved around him to his blind spot.


    Grashia''s mind was a bit unstable due to the corrosive pain that was coursing through his chest and he failed to notice his opponent going for another strike.


    Not wasting the chance, Felix reached behind Grashia holding his sword and this time aimed for his legs.


    Using both hands, he gripped his sword facing the de downwards, and stabbed it at the back of Grashia''s right knee.


    The shortsword quickly entered deep inside his body and Felis simultaneously used his skill corrosion, letting the baleful energy move all over Grashia''s leg.


    "AAAGH!!"


    It seemed that this time the pain Grashia was feeling was the most terrible of all considering his out-of-shape legs that were slightly inproportional with the rest of his body.


    Grashia fell down on his knees, the shortsword still stabbed in his legs but he tried to get up takingrge amounts of breath in.


    Felix saw that his opponent was still trying to resist and decided to end the battle.


    Deftly removing the sword from the giant''s body, he brought it backward before strongly stabbing deep into his back and also turning on the skill corrosion.


    "KHAAGHH!!"


    Grashia screamed loudly his voice reaching the edges of the whole arena and moving toward the other nearby arenas.


    The audience had goosebumps crawling on their skins as they heard the horrible scream that they hadn''t ever heard in their whole life living in the underworld.


    Especially knowing that the scream wasing from the man who was dubbed as the zombie giant by everyone as he was infamous for not feeling any pain at all in any of his battles.


    The referee looked at the middle of the stage where a fat giant was kneeling on the ground screaming for his dear life while a guy who was much smaller than him was holding the stabbed sword with a crazy look in his eyes.


    Frowning, he decided to intervene and end the match even though he felt it was unbelievable for Garshia to lose.


    It seemed that his intervention was unnecessary as the fat giant banged his arms on the stage and cried out.


    "I-I g-give up aaghh!! P-Please stop AAGH!!"


    Seeing that his opponent had already surrendered, Felix back to his senses and stopped using the skill of corrosion.


    Taking his shortsword out from Grashia''s back, he gave the man a kick pushing him down onto the floor.


    "Well, that''s for giving me that pervert smile."


    Shaking off the remaining blood from his sword, Felix sheathed it and turned around to look at the referee.


    Pausing in his steps, the referee shook his head and raised the red g before bringing it down.


    "The battle ends and the winner is....Phantom!"


    .....


    At the audience seats.


    It was pure silence with confusion in the minds of everyone in the crowd.


    Dufus who was not believing what he had just witnessed broke the silence by shouting out loud.


    "H-Holy shit! Did you guys see that?? The battle''s already finished."


    There was unconcealed excitement in his words as he kept jumping around.


    Henry turned his eyes away from the stage and looked at Dufus in a stupor before reality finally sank in.


    "F-Fuck! That Phantom really defeated the zombie giant Garshia...."


    He actually couldn''t even believe what he was saying but the truth was before him as his stupid friend was dancing like an idiot for their betting victory.


    The other men too came out of their daze and started to shout out loud happily for winning the bet that they didn''t have any hopes for.


    The whole audience joined them and started to make amotion as the battle they had watched today was so different unlike any they had ever seen.


    The hugemotion sparked the interest of the many people who were moving about the arenas, making them approach and ask about the situation.


    Upon getting to know the reason for all the ruckus, the people were bbergasted and found it hard to believe.


    A neer fighter defeated the cruel zombie giant?


    That was unbelievable for them and they didn''t take the words of the audience to their hearts.


    The audience people got annoyed and instead of telling more, they just pointed to the stage where the zombie giant Grashia was kneeling down with a small person slowly walking away from there.


    After personally seeing the truth, the new people widened their eyes and started to get excited at the arrival of a new arena battle challenger.


    That was all they wanted.


    To have more amazing fights to watch with more and more strong fightersing out from every corner.


    The gathering of all these mighty fighters would lead to the start of another crazy era of Arena battles that would blow away all the usual boredom and bring back the hype of the previous underworld.


    .....


    Unaware of the chaotic spark that he had lit up, Felix walked down to the underground path of the stage.


    "Haa...haa...this is killing me...."


    He took deep breaths leaning his back against the wall and rxed his body from the over exhaustion of repetitively using the skill Agility Burst, which basically sucked all his stamina to produce the increase in speed.


    Felix closed his eyes and gradually recovered his body''s stamina after a few minutes.


    There were lots of wounds on his body but they were not that critical as his opponent had not used any sharp weapons.


    He opened his eyes letting out a deep breath and made an emotionless face.


    "Let''s go, there''s still four battles remaining....."

 Chapter 68: Third Battle.

    Coming out from the underground path, Felix walked away from there before the crowd could gather around and spot him.


    But what he didn''t know was that a group of people led by a fat man and anky bald man were secretly waiting for him near the entrance.


    And just when had exited from there, they sneaked behind and followed him while eyeing him as if he were a beauty.


    Felix didn''t know how much time was left for the next match but he immediately made his way through the arena grounds, searching for the arena numbered 23.


    His win in the recent match against the zombie giant had already started to spread among the masses and people were getting enthusiastic about the uing match where they could truly witness his fight.


    The people who felt the most lucky today were Henry, Dufus, and their gang who were trailing behind Felix with happy smiles on their faces.


    Dufus couldn''t stop a joyfulugh from escaping his mouth as he said.


    "Yehe, this guy even defeated that terrible giant and I don''t think there''s anyone who''s gonna put a challenge to him."


    Henry nodded with a smile and replied.


    "And that means we''re gonna keep on winning our bets from now on!"


    All of them felt delighted and d to have found this guy who was like their lucky charm, from whom they would earn a lot by betting.


    They followed Felix in curiosity until he moved around and reached another arena.


    "Wait- Is this guy participating in another match?"


    Henry stopped frozen in his steps, his face a mix of shock and confusion.


    His words made the other men stop in their tracks as they all suddenly realized something.


    Dufus made a stupid face and stuttered when he got to know what Henry was on about.


    "D-Didn''t he just win two matches within this hour? And he''s already joining another battle now...."


    All of them felt their minds blow up when they came to know that the guy named Phantom was still able to fight after battling two matches especially with one of them being with the giant zombie.


    They wondered if the guy didn''t feel exhausted at all or if he was bing crazy after getting introduced to the arena battles.


    One of the men asked staring at Henry.


    "What do we do now? Do you think we should still bet on him now? After two battles, he must be feeling tired by now...."


    The man''s words made Henry ponder about what to do as he frowned deeply.


    The man was right. It would be a lot more difficult to still win after taking part in two matches also taking into ount that thest battle was very brutal with lots of blood getting spilled.


    As Henry continued to think about the matter, Dufus suddenly started to pull at him and jumped about.


    "Henry Hey Henry! Listen to me! I think we should definitely bet on him. That guy is a monster and he''ll absolutely win this battle."


    There was unwavering confidence in his voice as if he had already predicted who would win the match.


    Henry and the other men looked at Dufus in puzzlement and wondered what had suddenly happened to him.


    Dufus was not someone who would give such a guarantee to his words and would always say things like ''maybe'' or ''I think so''.


    So it was the first time they had seen him say words that were like ''Trust me bro''.


    Taking his hand away from Dufus''s hold, Henry looked at him and asked.


    "And why do you think so? You should know that if we all bet on him and lose then it''ll be a huge loss for us. What reason do you have for convincing us to bet on him?"


    At Henry''s question, Dufus scratched his head and replied.


    "Uhh about that you see...I saw something in that guy''s eyes when he was about to walk toward the next arena."


    Dufus frowned and spoke in a low and deep voice that was a bit unusual of him, prompting the others to pick up their ears.


    "And that something didn''t look as if it was about to get defeated by anyone, instead that look appeared as if it was unstoppable."


    ?§ç§â?-§ñ&?¦Å#§á?¦Å$--


    Henry and others frowned looking at each other thinking if Dufus had lost his mind or something.


    They didn''t want to try and believe in his words for that may put them in a loss of their recent gains.


    Dufus saw that they didn''t take his words seriously and scratched his head before saying.


    "Well whatever, if you guys don''t n on betting on him then I won''t force you but I for sure am betting all my money on him."


    He smiled stupidly and waved at them before moving toward the betting booths to ce a bet.


    Henry and the others eyed each other and shrugged helplessly.


    "What can we say about this guy, sometimes he''s just acting weird but anyways it''s not like we''re getting any lose with him betting in this match."


    "Yeah, maybe that''ll be a lesson for him teaching him not to waste money on his intuitions."


    Theyughed it off and made their way following the path Felix took to the Arena 23.


    By now, Felix had already entered the arena stage and was starting to do stretches.


    In front of him stood a man with average height and build practising swinging his sword.


    A few minutes passed and Dufus returned to the audience seat making his way to the group.


    They all weed him back and teased him of his uing win.


    Dufus just sheepily smiled at them and sat down, ncing at the stage where the match was about to get started.


    The referee moved to the middle of the stage shouting out thebatant''s names to the public and asking them if they were ready, both nodded at him making him announce the start of the battle.


    He brought down the green g and shouted.


    "And the battle begins!"


    The moment he ended his words, the crowd saw an afterimage of a person rushing toward the other side of the stage.


    Dufus, Henry, and the others shockingly stared at the guy they had been following around in the arena move at a very high speed and arrive behind his opponent.


    He raised the sword with both of his hands and shed at his opponent''s back, spilling outrge amounts of blood on the ground.


    They remained stunned as the guy gave a kick at his unmoved opponent throwing him onto the floor where he stayed motionless.


    "Huh?"


    Henry eximed stupidly and rubbed his eyes not believing what he just saw.


    The whole crowd remained silent for a while until they all erupted when they heard a man shout out loud.


    "SEE I TOLD YOU GUYS THAT HE WOULD WIN!!"


    Dufus jumped up from his seat screaming out loud while swinging his betting ticket at them.


    The other men including Henry stared at him speechless before they too jumped out cheering at the victory that they had not expected at all.


    "Holy fuck! He really won!!"


    "I can''t believe he just won another match!!"


    "That stupid Dufus actually guessed right!"


    The referee finally came to his senses hearing the crowd go crazy and quickly announced the end of the match.


    Swiftly putting away the green g that he didn''t even have the time to put away from his hand, he brought out the red g and swung it downwards announcing the end of the match.


    "The battle ends and the winner is Phantom!!"


    =====


    Bonus Chapter = 150 votes

 Chapter 69: The Fastest.

    Felix slowly walked out from the arena stage through the underground path.


    He could hear the crowd out there cheering, shouting, and chanting his name as he moved ahead in the dark path.


    "Phantom!"


    "Phantom!"


    "Phantom!"


    Even though he was feeling quite exhausted from using his stamina-draining skill, Felix had a slight smile on his face getting happy from his recent win.


    He moved on and came out from the path before quickly making his way away from there, so as to not get caught up with the excited crowd.


    There were still three matches remaining and he wanted to quickly end them, so wasting time here was of no use.


    After he walked away, a group of men arrived there and started searching for him.


    "Where did he go?"


    "Quick search for him, we must follow him to see if he joins another battle."


    Henry excitedly said to the other men who nodded and spread out looking for the man who they had thought as their lucky charm.


    They all moved around the crowd in search of him before one of them suddenly called out.


    "There! I see him going there!"


    All the men gathered around him as he pointed at the back of Felix who was walking in a different direction.


    "Good. Don''t lose him, he''s our only way to get rich."


    "Come one on, we must definitely bet on him this time."


    Henry and Dufus led all the men to trail behind Felix. They traversed the crowdy arena grounds eyeing him as the rest of the people nced at them strangely.


    Felix walked on and reached another arena numbered 34 where he didn''t hesitate and made his way towards there.


    "He''s joining another fight!"


    "Yes! I''ll bet on him this time for sure."


    The group of men got excited at that sight as they all hurriedly ran to the betting booth of that arena.


    They rushed to the man selling the betting tickets and quickly ced their bets on Phantom without even looking at who he was up against.


    After cing the bets, they rushed to Arena 34 where they saw that Felix had already walked onto the stage and was doing stretches.


    The group found some seats and sat there eagerly waiting for the fight that was going to start.


    It didn''t take long before the referee asked both fighters to get ready and started the battle.


    "And the battle begins!!"


    Dufus, Henry, and the group kept their eyes wide open to properly see for themselves what would happen in the match before it even began.


    And that made them finally able to realize how fast that guy actually was.


    Simr to thest match, Felix dashed ahead right at the moment when the referee brought down the green g.


    His speed quickened all of a sudden, shing off afterimages at the scene as the crowd gasped at the spectacle.


    Seeing that the guy had started to take action, a certain group in the crowd started to cheer out loud making amotion with the audience.


    "Phantom you can do it!"


    "You''re the fastest,e on!"


    "That''s right finish him!"


    They were shouting raising their hands and showing their whole support to him as if they''re life depended on it.


    Their life actually did kind of depend on him as they had bet all their life savings in hopes of winning arge sum of money.


    His eyes glowing a deep red like that of a hunter, Felix moved across the stage.


    Appearing behind his opponent like a ghost, he unsheathed his weapon and attacked at several of the red weakness marks which could only be seen by him.


    Blood spurted out dying the stage red and the audience gasped at the quickness.


    As usual, targeting the weak points always gave good results and that is what happened as the guy whose name Felix did not even take note of fell head first on the ground.


    "Thud....."


    Sheating his shortsword back into the scabbard, Felix slowly started to walk away.


    It didn''t look as if he had just fought against an equally powerful opponent of the same zero rank, instead, it appeared more like he was taking a stroll around the park.


    Watching the man leave the arena stage after defeating his opponent, the referee woke up and looked around before taking a gulp and announcing the end of the match.


    "Umm, t-the battle ends and the winner is....Phantom!"


    Poor referee, he couldn''t even change the g he was raising and became confused for a second there before doing it while still being in a state of shock.


    The audience was inplete silence but then it was again disturbed by the same group of men who excitedly cheered out showing their joy.


    "Yoohoo! He did it! He won again!"


    This time it was Henry who started jumping first. And looking at him, the other men too started celebrating the victory.


    "Yes! I knew he could do it."


    "He won once again!!"


    The whole audience had started to cheer too after witnessing the fastest battle they had ever seen, but the group who were making the most of a scene was without a doubt Henry and his friends.


    Dufus smiled looking at them when he suddenly remembered something.


    "Wait guys stop! We have to go behind him, what if he''s joining another battle?"


    All of them stopped their actions and stared at Dufus for seconds without blinking.


    "Umm, would he still join? I really doubt that, I mean it''s been four battles already."


    One of them said slightly holding back his intentions as he didn''t want to sound like a prick.


    Henry looked at Dufus intently and asked.


    "Dufus, what do you think? Do you still think that guy''s going to battle another match?"


    Dufus was surprised at the question he was asked but he didn''t back down and nodded his head rapidly before answering.


    "Yes, I''m sure of it. I saw that same previous look in his eyes when he was leaving the stage."


    When they heard him say that, all of them looked around at each other before nodding.


    Henry smiled and patted his shoulders.


    "Well, this time we''ll believe you. Let''s go see what that guy has to show us."


    Widening his eyes, Dufus stared at all of his friends who actually believed in him and he felt his eyes teary.


    Rubbing his eyes, he nodded while smiling.


    "Hnn, yeah we have to go before he disappears into the crowd."


    The group of them agreed and quickly left the audience area, again searching for their lucky charm that would lead them to be a sessful better.


    They quickly found the guy who was wearing a ck mask and robe making his way to some other arena stage.


    "There he is...."


    Dufus pointed at the guy they were finding while the rest of the group nodded and revealed a slight smile.


    Henry twitched his lips looking at the guy searching for his way to another arena and shook his head in a daze.


    "I can''t believe this guy. He''s really going to join another battle....."


    All of them nodded while one of them replied.


    "But hey, isn''t that the best for us?"


    The group eyed each other sneakily before breaking out into a burst ofughter.


    "Hahaha, you''re right!"


    "If he wins, then we win!"


    "Let''s go guys, can''t be gettingte for the bets."


    With smiles on their faces, the group of men followed behind Felix to witness another win.

 Chapter 70: The Other Group.

    "He won again! And that too with the same quick battle!!"


    "That''s fucking crazy! Betting on him was the best decision I made in my entire life."


    "This guy''s not just winning, he''s literally dominating all the battles!!"


    "Bro, we''ve not even sat down and he already ended the match...."


    Henry, Dufus, and the group who had hurried to the audience seats after cing their bets found that the battle had already.


    Even though they had won their bets in a few seconds, they were kind of annoyed for not getting to look at the battle.


    They watched as Felix walked down the stage to the underground path and quickly turned around still clutching their betting tickets that they had just won from.


    "Go quick, we must hurry if we want to actually see how he fights in the next battle!"


    "That guy really cannot be stopped! He''s literally bulldozing through the battles."


    The group ran out of that arena their expressions of delight and excitement, and they saw Felix moving out from the underground path.


    They quieted down and waited until he started to move in a different direction.


    ncing at each other, they took a gulp and smiled somewhat speechlessly.


    "There he goes again, walking toward another arena after winning a match in a few seconds."


    "Are you sure that guy''s a human? I''ve really not seen anything like in the Arena in my whole life!"


    "Whatever, why should wein? We got such a nice opportunity and we''ll be fools to lose it!"


    The group discussed among themselves before Henry calmed them down.


    "Stop it guys, we''ll discuss all thister because if we don''t hurry behind him then he''ll win the match before we can even ce our bets."


    His words woke them up as they all nodded agreeing at that fact and stopped their discussion before chasing behind Felix.


    They made their way across the crowd and saw Felix walking down the underground path of another Arena.


    Just when they were about to hurry to the betting booth to ce their bets, they saw another group of men arrive at the scene with a greedy shine in their eyes.


    "Huh, why are they here?"


    The two groups of men suddenly stood at the entrance of the betting booth, surprised at encountering another group of men who were just like them and were quite famous around the arena for betting on a lot of matches.


    Both of the groups were not on friendly terms with each other as seen presently, because of the usual conflicts between them in the matters regarding betting in the Arena battles.


    As the two groups stood there staring and scrutinizing each other, a man from the opposing group walked up.


    The man was a bit on the shorter side at around 1.6 m but the arrogant smile on his face made everyone think that he was some bigshot, when actually he was just some betting addict in the underworld.


    There were not many gambling dens in the underworld this man had not visited, and all of those that he had visited were forced to stop this man from entering because of the stupid luck he had every time.


    Walking with his hands behind his back like some educated schr, the man approached them with a smirk on his face.


    "Well, look at who we got here! The group of losers who are desperately looking for a way to survive. And why are you losers blocking our path?"


    He asked mocking them like he had done all the time.


    "Y-You!"


    Dufus clenched his hands in anger almost walking ahead and pping that arrogant piece of face, but Henry was quick and stopped him from doing it.


    "Wait Dufus, this is not the time."


    In fact, Henry too wanted to punch that asshole in the guts for always mocking and looking down on them, like all the members of their group were thinking, but this time they were in a hurry.


    So instead of starting a fight, Henry walked forward and forcibly smiled.


    "Oh look it''s Gevano and his puppies. Wonder what you guys are doing here? Also, we arrived here first, so aren''t you guys the ones who''re blocking our paths?"


    Even though he didn''t want to start a fight, that didn''t mean he would back down when the short guy insulted him and his friends.


    Gevano raised his brows before narrowing his eyes and turning to his gang.


    "Would you look at that! Fat Henry is trying to speak back, guess he doesn''t care about his image in the future."


    "Hahaha, you''re right Gevano."


    "This guy has guts for talking back. We should teach him a lesson."


    The minions replied showing their support for their leader.


    Dufus couldn''t hold back any longer seeing his best friend getting insulted and he blew up pointing at the short man who was two heads shorter than him.


    "You small midget! What the fuck did you eat beforeing here huh? Your momma''s milk? Get the hell out of our faces if you don''t want your ass handed to you.", he shouted making a scene at the ce.


    "Pff-"


    Henry and the men standing behind him could barely hold back theirughs when they saw Dufus literally insulting the guy on his face.


    Gevano stood stunned staring above at Dufus, his mouth wide open as he could not believe that he was just mocked in front of everybody.


    "Y-Y-You!! How dare you insult me??", his eyes turned slightly red as he stepped back to his group.


    He was not that great of a fighter and that was why he would spend most of his money to bring some men to work for him.


    The group of men saw that their leader was getting mocked and they guarded him while starting a verbal fight with the other group.


    "What the hell are you barbarics doing? Do you want to fight with us or something?"


    Dufus harrumped in anger and crossed his arms replying.


    "Not something or anything, it''s just that little leader of yours doesn''t know shit and he''s talking as if he knows everything."


    Gevano got angered and snapped suddenly at him.


    "What the hell did you say? I don''t know shit? Well, at least I know better than you guys who''ve never won a bet in your entire lives!!"


    Instead of shouting back, Dufus just smiled and shook his head.


    "See, you really don''t know shit...."


    Clenching his jaws, Gevano looked ready to make his minions fight when suddenly he got an idea looking at the betting booth at the side.


    He smiled like some scammer and quickly changed his angry expression into a friendly one before talking out in a persuasive tone.


    "Well, how about we not fight like some stupid people and decide on who''s right by cing a bet like how we do it as usual?"


    His words surprised the two group men, especially Henry who thought the small guy was thinking of a dirty scheme.


    Henry moved ahead and stopped Dufus from doing something careless before asking in doubt.


    "You can''t fool me Gevano, I''m sure you''re plotting something."


    Gevano waved his hands harmlessly and shook his head, denying the usations.


    "Ohe on, why would I do that? See we''ve bothe here for betting and instead of wasting time fighting, why don''t wepete with each other and see who''s going to win."


    MVLeMpYr-story


    He tried to make them fall into his trick while putting all his efforts into acting as if he didn''t mean any harm at all.


    Henry, Dufus and the group nced at each other confusedly before they all gave a knowing smile when they remembered their lucky charm.


    Dufus walked forward and mocked again, this time with a purpose in mind.


    "Are you sure you want to bet with us? You can''t go crying to your momma if you lose the bet.", he didn''t know why but insulting the little dude always made him feel good.


    Gevano suppressed the thought of killing the tall man who kept on dissing him and replied.


    "Of course, I want topete you because only then we''ll know who''s the best between the two of us."


    Dufus and Henry smiled looking at each other for sessfully making the short guy fall for their crap.


    Henry asked.


    "And how do we do this?"

 Chapter 71: The Bet.

    Gevano had a discreet smile rising at the corner of his lips as he replied to them on how they''d bepeting with each other.


    "Well, the rules are simple. Your group and mine will bet on the different fighters of the battle at this betting booth that''ll start in a few minutes."


    exclusive-to-MvLeMpYr


    "We will be betting all our money that we have right now, and the winner will be taking everything. How''s it? Do you dare to bet?"


    Gevano looked straight at Henry as he knew the other guys would listen to him.


    Henry had a thoughtful expression on his face that he tried hard to make while holding back augh.


    Seeing that the guy was hesitating, Gevano continued.


    "Are you scared? Well, what can you expect from some los-"


    "We ept!"


    Before Gevano could call them losers again, Dufus stepped ahead and shouted.


    Gevano stared at Dufus before turning towards Henry.


    "You ept?", he asked patiently.


    Henry nced at everyone in his group and seeing all of them nodding at him, he replied.


    "Yes. We ept to bet against you."


    A smile quickly formed on Gevano''s face but he tried to suppress that.


    "There''s no time to waste then. The fighter I''ll be betting on is called Warren and you guys can bet on another one. Is that alright with you?"


    Henry frowned showing some displeasure but he nodded acting as if he didn''t care about that.


    "Sure, we''ll be betting on the other guy."


    Both groups gave each other ast look and entered the betting booth together, cing their bets on their chosen fighters.


    Gevano sneaked a nce at them as he thought.


    ''Fuckers! Want to go against me? Then you''ll have to pay the price. The one I''m betting on Warren is the son of a member of one of the strongest guilds in Edenmont city.''


    ''With the resources and the training he has done, there''s no way some average fighter in the underworld can defeat him.''


    This was the reason he was so confident of winning the bet and had tricked them into falling for it.


    After they lose their bet, he''ll be getting most of their money and then he''ll show them who''s the best.


    After they had done cing their bets, both groups walked out and separated from there, walking in different directions to find some seats in the audience.


    Seeing that they had gotten far away from Gevano, Dufus, and the group nced at each other and grinned evilly.


    "Hehehe, we tricked that asshole."


    "To think he''s betting against Phantom. That guy will have an eye-opener today."


    "That''s for sure. I can''t wait to see the look on his face when he finds out the result of the bet."


    "Come on men, we gotta hurry or that guy will end the match before we even arrive there."


    The group of men made their way to the audience seats and found a ce to sit.


    They saw that Phantom was already on the stage and the match was about to get started.


    Walking to the middle of the stage, the referee looked at the two fighters and announced their names.


    "On the left, we have Warren who has won more than ten matches already while on the right side, we have Phantom, who joined the Arena battle just yesterday."


    This referee wasn''t well informed about the feats Felix had done and was familiar with Warren, so he did what he could and glorified one party over the other.


    The audience here was also not sure of who Phantom was except for a few whose eyes gleamed at the mention of his name.


    Felix stood on the stage while waiting for the referee to start the match and nced at his opponent.


    With brown curly hair, the guy was not wearing a mask showing his tan face and skin.


    There was a grin stered on his face as he waved all around at the audience to which they shouted and cheered his name.


    "Warren! Warren! Warren"


    It seemed that he had a bit of poprity here by the way the crowd was cheering for him, but Felix didn''t care about any of it and instead got into a fighting stance.


    The referee gave Warren some time to show off his fame and sometimeter asked both the fighters.


    "Are you both ready?"


    He looked at Warren only and when he saw him nodding, the referee swung the green g down without even ncing at Felix.


    "Then let the battle begin!!"


    This time Felix didn''t rush off quickly because using the Agility Burst skill multiple times had drained him of his stamina.


    His opponent also didn''t seem to rush things as he hopped and jumped about the stage while smiling at him.


    "What happened? Not gonna attack me?"


    He asked while moving sideways on the stage.


    Felix didn''t answer and remained in a defensive stance while moving along with him on the opposite side.


    In the audience seats, Henry and the others frowned when they saw their champ not fighting like he had done in the previous battles.


    They got anxious at the sudden change and discussed it among themselves.


    "What is happening with him? Is he not going to end the match quickly?"


    "I don''t know, maybe he''s taking it slow."


    Dufus saw that they were getting worried, so he calmed them down.


    "Guys don''t worry, so what if he didn''t end it quickly we all know that he''s still going to win."


    Henry added too.


    "Yeah, Dufus is right. Maybe he''s taking his time in this battle and will get serious sometimeter."


    These words eased the group''s worry a little but they were still a bit confused about the situation.


    While sitting opposite them, Gevano had a victorious smile all along watching the start of the battle and taking a little peek at the others.


    "Hehehe, we''ll see how you''ll still be insulting me after you lose everything in this bet."


    There was no worry in his mind regarding the current match at all as he had never heard of the other fighter, and when he came to know that the guy had started to fight only yesterday, he was more than delighted.


    Gevano mocked the other group for a while andughed with his gang before turning to look at the stage as the fighters had finally shed against each other.


    The whole crowd cheered out loud, watching Phantom and Warren start their fight.

 Chapter 72: The Last Battle.

    Under the eyes of the many spectators, Warren smiled and dashed ahead wielding his long sword.


    He ran across the stage and reached Felix before attacking him.


    Felix was already in a defensive stance, and seeing his opponent approaching him, he stepped forward blocking the attack.


    Their sh of swords sparked the beginning of their battle as the crowd started yelling out words of encouragement.


    Henry looked on at the battle and remained confused as to what Felix was doing.


    ''He could finish this battle instantly, so what is making him hold himself back?''


    There was no one to answer his doubts so he sat still, intently watching the match go on.


    On the stage, Felix and Warren had already exchanged a few swings and were starting to get a little serious.


    ''This man''s not bad...''


    Felix was slightly surprised to find that his opponent was actually a good swordsman, fending off all the attacks and not showing any form of blindspot in his movements.


    While he was getting impressed by his opponent, Warren was feeling the same way.


    ''This guy is kind of different from the rest of them...''


    Warren was tired of fighting those lunatics of the underworld who didn''t even know how to take a proper battle stance.


    Having gotten used to them, this new guy''s fighting style was making him feel a bit better so Warren decided to go all out and fight to his heart''s content.


    Retreating a few steps after an attack, he grinned looking at Felix''s eyes.


    "You''re getting me all fired up, not gonna lie. So let me show you my real moves."


    Taking a deep breath, Warren moved his sword in a strange rhythm and started concentrating on a strike.


    When the crowd saw Warren performing something unusual, most of them got confused but some of them quickly shot up and eximed.


    "Holy fuck! Is he going to use a battle technique?"


    "Look at that! He''s doing a battle technique."


    The other people who didn''t know what the guy was doing were stunned and eximed out too.


    "Wait- Did you just say a battle technique?"


    "No way, I''ve never seen something like that before!"


    Henry and Dufus had worried expressions on their face as they nced at each other.


    "Is that guy going to be alright?"


    "He better be...."


    While they were getting anxious at Felix''s situation, Gevano wasughing out loud staring at the man he had betted on.


    "Hahaha, that right there is something those fools would''ve never thought of. But still for him to use a battle technique on that guy makes it a bit interesting."


    As the crowd raised a ruckus about the growing tensions of the fight, Felix frowned looking at his opponent.


    ''He''s thinking of using a battle technique?''


    Unlike normal attacks of sh and stabs, a battle technique was a lot stronger way of using a weapon.


    They gather the energy present in the body andbine it with the will of the practitioner before performing extraordinary movements, bringing the power out of the body in various forms.


    Instead of simply using Aura to strengthen their body, or manifesting it out onto their weapons, Warriors create and use battle techniques to fight.


    Seeing that Warren was starting toe to an end of his strange movements, Felix suddenly had a thought and he acted on it.


    ''Well, not on my watch!'', he smiled evilly.


    Quickly activating his skill Agility Burst now that he was quite recovered from the drained state, he shed forward toward Warren.


    The Warren guy was unaware of his opponent suddenly appearing behind him and he continued to focus on his battle technique.


    But the crowd who were seeing everything froze in their spots.


    They saw the ck-masked fighter disappear from his position and appear right behind his opponent in a second, making thempletely silent.


    Warren who was finallying to an end of his grand movement found it strange that the buzzing surroundings had calmed down.


    He turned his head sideways to look at the crowd with a confused face, but what greeted him was the sharp gleam of a shortsword which made his pupils turn into a point.


    Watching the de getting near to him, he tried to move his body and get into a defensive position but the sword was faster as it swiftly reached him.


    "Shquchh!"


    The shortsword shed into Warren''s shoulder where Felix had seen a red mark appear.


    Looking at the sword that was still lodged into his shoulders, Warren finally felt the pain moving through his arms.


    "Aaagh!!"


    Shouting out loud, he retreated away from Felix while pulling his arms out from the sword.


    But Felix had already fought five battles and wanted to end this one too, so he didn''t give the guy any chance to recover from the attack and quickly followed.


    He dashed ahead and kicked at Warren''s chest, making the guy fall down onto the floor with a grunt.


    "Ugh!"


    Moving quickly, Felix appeared above him and ced his sword on the guy''s neck before saying softly.


    "And that''s the end...."


    Silence.


    Except for the faraway noises of the different arenas, there was no sound in the surroundings as everyone remained stunned at the rapid change in the scene.


    Felix was not someone to waste time so he turned to the referee and called him out.


    "I won. Can you end this battle now?"


    Breaking out from his daze, the referee nodded absentmindedly and announced the end of the battle.


    "T-The battle ends! And the winner is Phantom!"


    Suddenly, as if a tsunami flooding a town everyone started to roar out loud, turning the silent ce into the noisiest ce in the arena.


    "What the fuck just happened?"


    "How did that guy move like that?"


    "Did anyone even see what just happened?"


    "Guys, where''s the battle technique you talked about?"


    The audience was confused but most of them were out of their minds witnessing something they had never seen before.


    As everyone remained in a state of mor, Dufus and the group of men who finally saw their champ end the battle cheered out loud making their voices take over the crowd.


    "HE DID IT AGAIN!!"


    "ALL GLORY TO Phantom!!"


    "Phantom!! Phantom!! Phantom!!"


    The resounding cheers of his name picked up momentum and everyone started to repeat after them. MVLeMpYr-unofficial-chapter


    "Phantom!"


    "Phantom!"


    "Phantom!"


    Felix stood tall on the stage listening to the cheers of the crowd and felt something deep inside him that made him feel strange.


    Was it Excitement? Happiness? Satisfaction?


    He didn''t know that but it made him feel good.


    Shaking his head with a grin on his face, he walked off the stage and entered the underground path deciding that he had enough battles for today.


    ''Let''s go. I''ll have to collect the rewards of all the battles and buy some medicines or potions to help me advance.''


    He had not forgotten the reason he hade here, to getbat experience including money and resources to make it easier for him to grow.


    With a determined face, he left the arena stage nning what had yet toe.

 Chapter 73: Reward and Talk.

    Coming out of the underground path, Felix sneaked away before a crowd could approach him and made his way to the Arena management office.


    While he walked away, Henry, Dufus, and the group staggered toward the guy they had bet against with sarcastic smiles on their faces.


    Gevano was still sitting on his seat with his eyes wide open as if he couldn''t believe what just happened.


    But Dufus didn''t feel any pity looking at the saddened face of the guy, rather he felt good seeing him in this state.


    "Look at this little guy, is he going to cry now?", he added salt to the already bloody situation of his and mocked.


    There was finally a reaction with the man as his face twisted into an ugly expression.


    Gevano turned to look at the men who hade to mock him, while his own hired group remained sitting beside him a bit hesitant.


    They didn''t know if they should still support him as he had lost all his fortune in thest bet and there was no way for him to pay them anymore.


    Seeing that Gevano kept quiet even after getting insulted, Dufus''s smile widened as he started to mock again.


    "I had already said before that you didn''t know shit. And that remains the same, you still don''t know shit. What else do you have to say, huh?"


    Dufus felt as if he could still continue but a red-faced Gevano jumped up from his seat and shouted at him.


    "You!! That''s enough! If you dare to say even one more word, then....then...", he stuttered but he couldn''t think of what to say now.


    "Then what? You''ll go to your mom and cry? Well, at least tell her that Dufus sends greetings."


    He added thestment which everyone started tough out about.


    "Hehe, that was a nice one Dufus."


    "Stop it guys, our little guy''s gonna cry now haha."


    Gevano couldn''t listen to their insults anymore, but instead of fighting it out, he quickly got up from his seat and ran away with an expression full of hate on his face.


    His hired group saw that their employer had run away and they quickly chased behind him for he had not yet paid them for today''s job.


    "Wait catch that fucker!"


    "Don''t let him get away!"


    Henry and the group saw everything unfold and shook their heads with victorious smiles on their faces.


    It felt as if it was them who had won the battle and were feeling very proud of it.


    But nheless, they had earned a lot from betting on their champ and were feeling as if they were some chosen ones.


    Suddenly, Dufus looked at everyone and asked a question he was curious about.


    "Guys, about that guy Phantom, do you think he''ll participate in another battle?"


    His question silenced the whole group as they speechlessly nced at each other.


    Then one by one they replied.


    "Umm, there''s no way, right?"


    "I mean, he already fought like six battles today."


    "I don''t think so...."


    Even Henry was against the idea of him joining another match.


    Dufus just tilted his head and pointed it out.


    "Well, you guys said the samest time but then he went ahead and fought another battle."


    Suddenly, everyone''s eyes gleamed in a strange light and they started to act chaotic.


    "Holy fuck there''s no way that''s possible.."


    "What do we do? What do we do?"


    Henry acted quickly and gave them the answer.


    "Is that even a question? Of course, we have to find him!"


    "Right! We have to find him!"


    "Let''s go! Let''s go!"


    All of them reacted swiftly and separated from there, moving in different directions searching for their champ, in hopes of making their greedy wishes of winning more betse true.


    Later it was brought to the notice of the guards of the Arena that a group of crazy men were acting as if on drugs and were running all about disturbing the little peace of the Underground Arena.


    .....


    On the other hand, Felix walked away from the Arena Management counter after receiving his reward of seven wins.


    His steps were unusual as his eyes remained glued on the new card he had in his hand.


    Even though it was a normal ck card just like the many cards he had with him, what made him stare at it with such intensity was because of what it contained.


    He was given this card by the employee who was working at the counter, and the words he had said earlier were:


    "Mr. Phantom, this card contains all the rewards you had won from the seven battles, including the amount you were gifted by the audience and a part of the betting booth from the battles you participated. In total, ites to an exact figure of 68,450 tahl."


    Felix was shocked to hear such a big amount and had absentmindedly taken the card before walking away.


    Some timeter when he reached a bit distance away, he stopped and took a deep breath before muttering.


    "I earned 68k in just one day? Isn''t that fucking awesome!"


    He couldn''t believe it but looking at the card in his hand and remembering the words of the employee, he knew it was the truth.


    Holding back the excitement of owning such arge amount of money for the very first time in his life, Felix calmed down and thought about where he was going to use it.


    ''This is good. Now I''ll have more money with which I can buy medicines and potions to help me advance.''


    MVLEmPyR-your-story-source


    Thinking about the benefits he could get from all those supplements, his eyes gleamed happily and he smiled at the good progress.


    When Felix made his toward the entrance of the Arena Management, a voice from the side called out to him.


    "Hey there Felix, it seems you''re having a good time winning all the matches here. Honestly, it was a surprise to me when you didn''t even get a single wound from all those fights."


    Felix turned around to the familiar voice and found a man wearing a delicate suit with a hat on his head leaning against the wall while looking at him.


    "Oh it''s you Mr.Dealer, well I was a bit lucky at the battles so I didn''t get hurt."


    He lied without changing his face, but it seemed that Mr.Dealer didn''t buy that as he just shook his head with a mysterious smile on his face.


    He stepped away from the wall and walked near to Felix before saying.


    "Lucky or not, what I know is that your guild must be pretty happy having you among them."


    Felix raised his brows when the guy started to talk about his guild.


    "Oh, you know about my guild Mr.Dealer?"


    He replied nodding sagely.


    "Yes, there''s always a way for words to reach me.", he smiled strangely.


    Felix narrowed his eyes a bit suspicious about the whole thing with this guy and asked.


    "So what do you want from me, Mr.Dealer? I''m sure you''re here for a reason, right?"


    Mr.Dealer was surprised when the young man directly asked him for his reason for his approach and scratched his head.


    ''Ughh how do I do this?...."

 Chapter 74: Nameless Shop.

    Felix saw that Mr.Dealer was silent for a few seconds and he asked back.


    "Umm, can you make it quick? I have some work in the ck market."


    Mr.Dealer didn''t know how to convince the boy, so he felt a bit hesitant but he quickly replied hearing his words.


    "You have work in the ck market? Why don''t you tell me, maybe I can help you."


    Felix gave it a thought and didn''t find anything wrong in saying what he was about to do to him.


    "Well, I''m trying to find some potions or medicines that may help me build a good foundation and prepare me to advance to the first rank."


    Mr.Dealer nodded at his n and suggested something with a smile.


    "How about this? I''m pretty knowledgeable about potions and stuff, so why don''t I apany you and help you buy them."


    He nced around before continuing softly.


    "The people at the ck market are always crafty and they''ll easily fool a neer who''s not careful. So having me with you would be a good idea, what do you think?"


    What Mr.Dealer said was true and Felix pondered about it as he remembered what Steve had said about the guy.


    ''Not going to lie but being with him made me learn a lot of things and I also got a lot stronger than I used to be. So even though he is kind of abnormal and acts like a prick most of the time, he can at least be trusted a bit in this crazy underworld.''


    ncing at him, Felix decided it wouldn''t be bad to take his help and agreed to the guy.


    "Sure, it would be great to have someone like you around."


    Mr.Dealer smiled seeing the boy agree and started walking to the entrance of the underground building.


    "Let''s go then, I''ll show you around."


    Felix nodded and followed him out as the man took him to a different route instead of the normal straight path toward the Arena gate.


    "We''re not going out from there?", he asked as they walked together.


    Mr.Dealer turned to him smiling and replied.


    "There are many ways to go about in the underworld, but not many know about it except for a special few."


    Felic raised his brows at that reply and asked back.


    "And you''re among those special few?"


    Mr.Dealer shook his head at the question and walked forward before answering as if it were a matter of fact.


    "No. I''m better than them."


    Seeing the man glorifying himself, Felix forced a smile and agreed with what Steve had said.


    ''You were right Steve, this guy''s really an as*hole.''


    As they chatted with each other, both of them reached a deserted part of the arena grounds and walked to the boundaries near the wall.


    There Felix saw a brown curtain attached to the wall with a guard sitting beside it on a chair.


    When Mr.Dealer arrived, the man quickly got up and respectfully nodded.


    "Sir."


    He said, to which Mr.Dealer nodded and gave him a few coins from his pocket.


    The guard smiled and kept the coins in his robe before pulling the brown curtain sideways, revealing a dark stairway leading above.


    "Come on.", Mr.Dealer indicated to Felix before going into the path and walking upstairs.


    Felix nced around at the corner of the arena ground they had reached and followed behind the man.


    The stairway was dark with a few light artifacts illuminating the ce, but there were no problems as they both walked upstairs.


    Reaching the end of the stairs, Felix found themselves inside an empty room.


    He walked behind Mr.Dealer as they moved out of the room from the only door.


    Coming out, he saw a man sitting beside the door to whom Mr.Dealer gave a few coins.


    Turning around, he said.


    "Now we''re in the ck market without anyone back there noticing."


    discover-MVLeMpYr-novels


    Felix nodded looking around and finding that they were back in the ck market in some deserted alley.


    They both then started walking out from there to the streets and slowly mixed in with the crowd.


    As they were walking around, Mr.Dealer started introducing the various services and facilities that even Steve didn''t know of.


    "That stall over there handles many kinds of monster parts, while that one sells good artifacts and essories, and then if you walk down this path then you''ll find a capable cksmith who''ll craft a nice weapon for you."


    The man pointed here and there not minding the people around and talked about various other things to Felix while he listened attentively and nodded.


    "You see that shop? There you can find forbidden or ancient tomes, grimoires, and stuff but most of them are lies and are kept there to scam the people, so you have to watch out for them."


    They walked around the ce seeing many different kinds of unusual items, artifacts, and other kinds of stuff making Felix wonder what he couldn''t find here in the ck market.


    As they walked around, Mr.Dealer stopped at a shop and said pointing at it.


    "There are many stalls selling potions and medicines but I rmend purchasing them from here as my friend owns it and she''ll give you a good service knowing you''re rted to me."


    Felix looked at the shop with no board or a name and asked a question.


    "It doesn''t even look like a shop so how do people buy from here?"


    Mr.Dealer smiled walking toward the door and replied.


    "Well, they don''t."


    Felix tilted his head confusedly and followed behind him as they entered the shop.


    A thick scent of herbs suddenly hit him making him raise his hands to cover his nose.


    He nced ahead frowning and became shocked with what he saw.


    ''Fuck is that!''


    There were a lot of containers, vials, and bottles around the room ced or rather thrown all about on the shelves and the counter making the scene a bit messy.


    But what really shocked him, making him break into a cold sweat, was the huge pot in the middle of the room. It was filled to the top with boiling purple liquid, spilling a bit onto the floor.


    There was a middle-ageddy dozing off sitting on a chair slightly away with a cane in her hand, not showing any reaction to the the customers who walked inside.


    Me.Dealer shook his head already used to this and walked toward thedy before patting her shoulder.


    "Samantha, wake up there''s a customer you got here."


    Thedy groggily opened her eyes and looked around taking a few seconds to collect her mind.


    She nced up at Mr.Dealer who was waving at her and let out a yawn before getting up from the chair.


    "Ughh I was having such a good sleep and you just had to ruin it, huh.", she groaned while stretching her body and popping her bones.


    "Well, sorry for that but look at what I got you, a new customer.", Mr.Dealer motioned his hands to the side at Felix.


    Felix gave a suspicious eye to the sizzling pot at the side and turned to nod at thedy.


    "Umm, I want to buy some potions. But before that, is that not dangerous?", he asked pointing at the big pot.


    Samantha and Mr.Dealer turned to look at the side before thedy widened her eyes and quickly rushed to the pot.


    "Oh no, my herbs!", she grieved sadly and hurriedly chanted some spells to stop the liquid from burning.


    Felix speechlessly looked at the scene and asked the man who was acting calmly.


    "Why did keep quiet about it when you saw it too?"


    Mr.Dealer shrugged as if there was no problem with what he did.


    "It''s always the same when Ie here. I wake her up, she curses me, then notices the pot and runs off to shut it down. So I just stopped telling her about it."


    Felix gaped at the scene and became worried about taking her potions.


    "Then what if she makes a mistake and the potions I eat cause harm?", he asked thinking it would be dangerous to buy from this shop.


    Mr.Dealer just smiled and reassured the boy.


    "Don''t worry. Even though she can be a bit clumsy at times, her potions are the best in the whole ck market."


    Seeing him give her such a greatpliment, Felix remained hesitant but decided to trust the man''s words.


    ''It would be sad to win a battle and then die painfully after drinking a potion....''

 Chapter 75: Potions and Motive.

    Samantha stopped the boiling pot and quickly removed the waste liquid before ncing at the bottom of the pot.


    There were a few damaged herbs present there and seeing it made her heart ache.


    "Ughh all my herbs, they''re wasted!", she eximed pressing her head tragically.


    Mr.Dealer walked forward and nudged at her.


    "Come on, I know you got a lot of herbs in your stash so what''s with all that drama."


    Samantha made an unhappy face and hit his leg with her cane lightly.


    "What do you know? Whether I have less or more, I still lost my precious herbs there!"


    He raised his hands and nodded, afraid of angering thedy anymore.


    "Yes yes, you''re right. That''s a pretty bad loss."


    Samantha snorted and carried the pot into another room beforeing out and walking to the counter.


    "So tell me, boy, what brings you to my store?"


    Mr.Dealer eyed Felix and indicated toward her.


    Felix nodded and walked near the counter, telling her about what he needed.


    "Umm, I''m looking for potions or medicines that may help me build a good foundation and advance to the first rank."


    Samantha nodded bringing out a book from under her desk, and started to write something on it.


    "What''s your current rank and main profession?", she asked.


    "I''m still at the zero rank, and as for my profession, I''m a warrior.", Felix answered.


    She nodded and asked some basic questions before going into a room and bringing out 4 vials of potions.


    "Take this.", she kept all the vials on the counter and introduced them to him.


    "As you''re a Warrior then you''ll need to reach the limit of your body to advance. So here are three potions that help in doing that. Use one every three days, and you''ll be fine.", she reminded him casually.


    But Felix seriously nodded as he didn''t want to make any mistake with regard to his body.


    "And this one potion removes most of the impurities in your body, making it reach a suitable state for easily advancing to the next rank. Use it only after you have absorbed all the power of the previous potions."


    Felix nodded happily knowing the uses of the potions and raised his hand to take the potions, but Samantha quickly interfered and stopped his hand with her cane.


    "Not so fast. You''ll have to pay before taking them."


    Felix took back his hand and scratched his head, looking at Mr.Dealer who just returned a shrug.


    "Umm so how much is it?", he asked thedy to which she started to ponder about it and replied.


    "Hmm, those three cost about 12,000 per vial while that one cost 20,000. So the total will be 56,000."


    She casually told the price, but Felix widened his eyes hearing that and wondered if he had heard it wrong.


    "So much? That''s about all I have right now!"


    Samantha gave a carefree smile and replied to his surprise.


    "Well, give everything you have then. I''ve already given you a 20 percent discount considering that man brought you here, also if you go to different shops then you''ll have to spend more than this for those potions."


    Felix was not sure what to do about it and he nced back at Mr.Dealer with questioning eyes.


    Mr.Dealer softly coughed twice and told him.


    "She''s right. All of these potions are very sought after by every person and It''ll be hard for you to find such a good deal in the whole underworld, but as for on the surface? It'''' be twice as much as here."


    He walked toward the counter and pointed at the four potions before turning to Felix.


    "See. Just these items and you''ll be able to advance to the next rank with the reward you won in one day."


    "Do you still think that''s a bad deal?", he tried to convince Felix who had no idea about what kind of precious potions he was getting.


    Samantha was one of the few Alchemists in the underworld, and she sold her products only to some of the people as she had no ambitions and just wanted to earn to survive.


    But her potions were of high quality unlike the others making the only few who knew about ite to a deal of appointing her as their private Alchemist.


    She didn''t reject that idea as they were willing to pay her even if they didn''t need potions, resulting in her potions getting used by only the higher-ups of the underworld and her being protected by all of them.


    Felix didn''t know all this and was hesitating whether to buy all that with the money he had right now.


    ''Altogether I have about 76,000 tahl and if I bought the potions, then I''ll be remaining with only 20,000 tahl.''


    He pondered about it and thought about how he had earned more than half of that money in one day.


    Not hesitating, he decided to finally buy those potions as they were the only way a person with an average talent like him would be able to break through to the first rank.


    "Alright, I''ll buy all of them.", he sighed at the money all gone and gave her his ck card.


    Samantha took the card and ced it on an orb before giving it back to him.


    She then brought out a bag from under the counter, ced the potions in it, and handed it to him.


    "Here. You''re wee toe here again."


    "Thank you."


    Felix held the bag and thanked her.


    Mr.Dealer took out his silver pocket watch and checked the time before saying to thedy.


    "Samantha, it''s time we go. Don''t fall asleep with your herbs boiling, we can''t have them get wasted after all.", he reminded her with a chuckle.


    Samantha just let out a yawn and waved her hand at him.


    "Yeah yeah, I''ll be careful about it. You can go now." -chapter


    "Well goodbye then."


    Mr.Dealer tipped his hat at her and walked out of the nameless shop with Felix walking behind.


    Felix gave the shop onest look and decided toe back here for more if the potions he had bought just now were as useful as they cost.


    The both of them came out of the shop and started walking away but Felix suddenly had a thought in his mind.


    ''Right, I still don''t know what this guy wants.''


    He stopped all of a sudden and called out to the man walking ahead.


    "So Mr.Dealer, what exactly do you want from me?", he asked seriously and put on a guard as he was a bit skeptical about everything about this man.


    Mr.Dealer paused and slowly turned around while ncing around the area for anyone eavesdropping.


    Seeing that their surroundings were fine, he moved back his focus onto the boy who could help him achieve his goals.


    His calm green eyes stared right into Felix''s crystal red eyes as the man finally told what he wanted.


    "Felix, do you want to make a deal with me?"

 Chapter 76: Mr.Dealers Deal.

    "Felix, do you want to make a deal with me?"


    Mr.Dealer said, his expression was serious.


    Felix narrowed his eyes when he heard the man''s motive and questioned back.


    "Deal? What kind of deal are you talking about?"


    Mr.Dealer looked right into the boy''s eyes and replied.


    "I want you to fight for me."


    "Fight?"


    Felix was surprised and wondered if he had heard it right.


    No matter what, he didn''t think that he was anywhere as strong as the man in front of him.


    So when Mr.Dealer asked Felix to fight for him, his first thought was whether the man had mistook him for a hidden master.


    Felix shook his head and rebuked.


    "You''re more powerful than me, so why would you want me to fight for you?"


    Mr.Dealer realized that the boy had mistaken his intentions so he gave a light cough and rephrased his words.


    "What I mean is, I want you to fight in some of the arena battles chosen by me.", he said slightly lowering his voice.


    Felix had a look of contemtion as he dived deep into the man''s words.


    ''So the reason he was acting all mysterious was to hook me into fighting battles for him....''


    Suddenly he thought this was simr to something he had heard and remembered what had happened with Steve.


    ''Yesterday Steve told me that this man scammed him into fighting in arena battles and had won money from betting on him, is this the same reason he wants me to fight for him?''


    Felix frowned as he didn''t want to be used by someone else to make them money.


    He replied with a sour tone in his voice.


    "If you''re thinking about earning money by making me fight for you, then I''m sorry but I''ll have to refuse your deal."


    He was about to turn around and leave after giving his answer but Mr.Dealer who had a confused expression on his face quickly waved his hands.


    "No wait! You''re misunderstanding me again."


    He looked around to survey their surroundings and decided it was better to discuss the deal somewhere else where there was a bit of privacy.


    Turning toward the boy, he conveyed his intentions.


    "I''m not trying to make you fight to win myself money, instead there''s plicated issue that needs to be quickly dealt with. As for what that is, I think we should move to another location and have a proper talk there. Is that alright with you?"


    Hearing him say that the reason was not about making money by using him and instead, it was something else, Felix gave it a thought.


    ''This guy is not showing any hostility, also from the way he''s been treating me I don''t think he''ll try to harm me.....''


    Coming to a decision while being slightly curious about the real reason, Felix nodded and agreed with the man''s proposal of discussing it somewhere else.


    "Alright, I''m fine with talking it out."


    "Great, follow me then. I''ll take you there."


    Mr.Dealer smiled and replied before leading him in another direction where Felix saw the light artifacts in the ck market started to get slowly darker.


    They walked for about ten minutes on the streets and into some alleys before stopping in front of a house at the farthest corner of the whole market.


    This part of the entire ck market looked empty and silent, a direct contrast to the lively and busy streets in the market, giving Felix the illusion of having entered apletely different ce.


    Mr.Dealer took out a card from his pocket and pressed it on the handle of the door.


    After an unlocking sound of the door, he opened it revealing a dark interior, and entered inside before gesturing at Felix.


    Felix gave the dark alleyway a brief nce and stepped inside the house.


    There was a man in a grey robe standing inside the house who immediately stood up when they entered and silently saluted at Mr.Dealer.


    Mr.Dealer nodded at him before walking to the staircase and going upstairs along with Felix who was busy looking around.


    ''There''s nothing here at all.''


    The house waspletely empty except for a few chairs and tables, making it unsuitable for habitation and living.


    He thought that this ce must be used by the man and his people for secret meetings and such.


    The both of them then reached upstairs and entered into one of the many rooms there.


    Simr to the outside, there were a few chairs and a table in the room where the both of them sat down.


    Finally a bit impatient, Felix asked the man about what he truly wanted.


    "Now can you tell me the reason you want me to fight for you and everything?"


    Mr.Dealer nodded and started speaking with a serious expression on his face.


    "Then let me reveal to you my true objective." story-source-MvLeMpYr


    He paused for a second and started from the beginning.


    "I want you to participate in some arena battles of zero-rank cultivators where you would be fighting against specific fighters."


    Felix raised his brows and asked.


    "Specific fighters? Not just random?"


    "Yes, specific fighters. You do know that there are two types of battle in the arena, right? First is the random battle one and the other is the challenge battle one.", he exined.


    "In the challenge battle, you can directly go and ask for the person you want to fight with to battle with you in the arena. And that is what I want you to do.", Mr.Dealer patiently told him everything.


    Felix listened to the information and asked what he really wanted to know.


    "That''s all good, but who are these people you want me to fight, and for what reason?"


    Mr.Dealer had a dark look on his face when he thought about those certain people.


    There were not many people in the world he hated but the ones that he did hate were only those lunatics.


    He had always wanted to exterminate these people from the face of this world formitting such vile atrocities and loss, but he was just one person while they were a whole organization with arge number of members.


    That was why he was going as far as involving aplete newbie in it, because there were some things that he couldn''t possibly do and there was no other option than using such a thorough and foolproof n which was taking small steps toward the goal.


    There was a sudden drop in the temperature inside the atmosphere inside the room, getting a bit chilled after Felix asked about them.


    With his voice filled with anger, Mr.Dealer finally told the boy who he was going to fight against.


    "The ones who we are going against are...the dark guilds!"

 Chapter 77: Intentions.

    "Dark Guilds!?"


    Felix raised his voice at the mention of that, as he knew that the people who had kidnapped his body''s previous soul were rted to the same group.


    Mr.Dealer nodded and appeared a bit surprised to get such a reaction from the boy.


    "Yes, the dark guilds. And it seems you know something about them."


    Felix slightly frowned and remained silent, afraid of giving away any information rting to his past.


    Mr.Dealer didn''t mind that as he always respected other''s privacy and instead continued what he was saying.


    "The people I want you to fight are the underlings of the members of the dark guilds. If they were participating purely in the battles for the sake of fighting and earning resources, then I wouldn''t have cared about them."


    "But they have other intentions..."


    Mr.Dealer''s voice took a sudden drop as a dark look etched on his face.


    About now, Felix had already made up his mind to investigate those underlings of the dark guilds, so as to get some information on the people who had made him a ve, but still, he was curious about their intentions for joining in the battles so he couldn''t help but ask back.


    "So what are their true intentions?"


    Mr.Dealer released a short breath and replied while narrowing his eyes.


    "The dark guilds want to take over the underworld....."


    "What?!", Felix opened his mouth wide not wanting to believe such a thing.


    If the dark guilds took over the underworld, then he wouldn''t have a ce to train and battle and also buy the goods of the ck market.


    Because they were the ones who had kidnapped him to use as a sacrifice in some blood rituals, and if they found out that he was still alive then he wouldn''t be confident to save himself from them.


    He had guessed that, as even the normal guilds refused to directly fight against the dark guilds then they must be about the same in power, and that would make it more dangerous to him unless he grew stronger.


    Mr.Dealer''s face turned darker as he revealed their final intention.


    "And after they take over the underworld, they would turn their eyes on this whole city...."


    Felix took a gulp and considered the consequences of that.


    ''What the fuck! If they take over the whole city, then where will I go?''


    As he didn''t want to believe such a future, Felix countered anxiously.


    "B-But how will they possibly do that? Isn''t there so many guilds in Edenmont City? The nobles and the duke too? There''s no way the dark guilds can defeat all of them."


    Mr.Dealer had a mocking smile at the mention of all those people as he shook his head.


    "You''re wrong, Felix. Not all of them are against the dark guilds."


    "You mean that...they too....", Felix slumped back on the chair finally making sense of the situation and he felt speechless at the fact that reality was from anything it appeared to be.


    Mr.Dealer remained silent to give the boy some time to to process all the new information, and a few minutester Felix voiced out.


    "Sigh...fuck this shit. Anyways, what kind of n do you have and what''s my purpose in it?"


    Mr.Dealer nodded and borated about what he had nned.


    "As I''ve said before, many underlings of the dark guilds are starting to participate in the underground arena battle, most of them being at the rank zero as the stronger men are stationed at other posts for their duties."


    "Their purpose of joining the arenas is to make a name for themselves and then poach off most of the unaware people into their organization while slowly integrating into the underworld, and atst taking whole control over it with their entire power."


    "Also, this was something I hade up with, taking into ount their way of actions from the past so I''m notpletely sure if that''s what they''ll be doing."


    Mr.Dealer empathized with those words as there could be anything happening and they should not be underestimating them.


    Seeing Felix listening to him attentively, he finally arrived at the topic of the deal between them.


    "And after watching your battles, I knew that you would be of great help to us. That''s why I want you to fight for me."


    As Felix was about to go into deep analyzing mode to think about the whole situation and make his choice, Mr.Dealer said with a small smile on his lips.


    "And of course, I won''t be making you fight for nothing."


    "You''ll be getting three times the amount of reward you get from any ordinary battle if you battle with them."


    "Including receiving discounts at many stalls and shops in the underworld that have our influence,stly, you''ll also be rewarded with an exclusive membership at most of the facilities present here."


    Felix raised his eyebrows at the generous rewards especially considering he was just a rank zero warrior and didn''t think anymore before instantly making his choice.


    Standing up with a smile, he reached out his hand and held it out before Mr.Dealer.


    "Well, I don''t think I''ll be able to refuse such exciting rewards."


    ''And deal with my unwanted enemies at the same time.''


    Mr.Dealer also stood up with determination in his eyes and reached out to shake hands with Felix.


    "It''s good to have you on board, Felix. I think you''re tired for today, so why don''t we continue discussing our n tomorrow, I''ll also show you our team and who you''ll be fighting against then."


    Felix nodded feeling the exhaustion that wasing up to him and decided to go back for today.


    Suddenly he remembered something and quickly asked the man in front of him.


    "Wait-! What''s the time right now?!", there was a slight panic in his voice.


    Mr.Dealer tilted his head and took out his silver pocketwatch, before telling him the time.


    "There''s 20 minutes until it hits 6 pm."


    Felix''s eyes widened in absolute shock as he instantly calcted how he had spent such arge amount of time.


    ''What the hell! I left the guild at 5 in the morning and it''s already going to be dark now?'', he screamed in his head.


    Quickly letting go of Mr.Dealer''s hand that they were strangely still holding, Felix started moving out of the room.


    "Sorry Mr.Dealer, I''m in a hurry so I''ll be going now. Meet youter!", he waved his hands and walked out of the room as the man remained standing in his spot.


    Mr.Dealer was confused for a few seconds before muttering.


    "Oh! I forgot that guy had made a curfew for his guild. Don''t know what goes inside his head."


    He grinned as he remembered his old memories, but then shook his head and walked out of the room too before ordering the man in the gray robe.


    "Escort that boy to the surface through the underground tunnels and hide any traces of him ever being here."


    The gray-robed man nodded without uttering a word before apanying Felix who was walking down the stairs out of the house.


    Mr.Dealer watched intently as they both walked out and turned back toward the room while taking heavy steps.


    "Now, all that''s left is to....."


    He paused and narrowed his eyes as a sharp glean shed through them.


    "..slowly take out every single one of those motherfuckers!"

 Chapter 78: Using the Potion.

    After making the deal with Mr.Dealer, Felix walked out of the house and followed the grey-robed man who revealed a hidden way of leaving and entering the underworld to him.


    They made their way to the boundary of the underworld reaching a ce where there was not a single person in sight.


    Arriving at the farthest wall, Felix saw a simr ck curtain attached to it with a person guarding there.


    The gray-robed man approached the guard and handed him a few coins before calling Felix to follow him.


    Felix nodded and walked behind the man as the guard opened the curtain and let them enter inside.


    They made their way upstairs for some time and walked out into a dark room.


    The gray-robed man opened the only door of the room and motioned with his hand for Felix to exit.


    Coming out of the room, Felix nced around and saw himself appearing inside the corridor of some tavern.


    He looked back as the door closed and remembered the room number.


    ''Who knew the way into the underworld would be hidden in a random room of a tavern....''


    While giving his surroundings a surveying look, Felix went to the stairs and walked downstairs to the lobby of the tavern.


    He had not yet removed his mask, so when he entered there, a lot of people turned to look at him.


    But strangely none of them showed a reaction and continued with their work as if it was a daily urrence.


    Felix didn''t waste time doing anything there and walked out of the tavern before turning around and remembering the ce.


    ''All of them were part of the underworld, that''s why they didn''t react when I walked out wearing a mask. From now on, I''ll better use this ce to travel in which is much better than those unguarded manholes.''


    He decided and started walking away from the tavern into the streets making his way back to the guild building, while taking out his map to find the directions there as the sun slowly hid beneath the horizon.


    .....


    When Felix arrived at the guild building a few minutester, he showed his card at the entrance and entered inside as the door opened with a slight glow.


    He poked his inside the hall and nced around to see if there was anyone present at the reception.


    ''Uh-oh, there''s Miss Elsa.....''


    He saw a blonde beauty staring in his direction with a small smile on her lips.


    Felix couldn''t help but take a gulp and release a deep breath to calm his beating heart as he was going to lie his way in.


    ''Alright, let''s go!''


    He was feeling more nervous and scared at the thought of lying to Miss Elsa than he was when fighting in the underground battles with those big guys.


    Making his way over to the reception, he greeted her with a casual grin on his face.


    "Hey there Miss Elsa, how are you doing?"


    Elsa, who had been staring at the boy from the moment he opened the door and entered inside, narrowed her eyes and greeted back.


    "I''m doing fine, Felix. Thank you for your concern. But how are you doing? Aren''t you tired from all the trouble you''re getting yourself into anding back sote?"


    Felix felt cold sweat on his back but he didn''t change his expression as he shrugged at her reply.


    "Haha, I don''t know what you''re talking about. I was just hanging around in the city looking at the many shops and forgot to look at the time as I have no watch with me."


    He gave a silly reason and didn''t wait for her reply before making his way toward the stairs.


    "Well, Miss Elsa I''m starving right now so I''ll be off to the dining hall, goodbye.", he waved his hands and took quick steps walking upstairs before hurrying off to his room.


    Elsa watched the boy go and sighed at his careless behavior.


    "Sigh Felix, do you really think you can hide that smell of blood with a simple excuse?"


    She shook her head but felt d that he was not hurt anywhere from what she had seen on his body.


    "Just don''t get yourself into things that you can''t handle....."


    Her murmurs remained in the silent reception hall where no one was present.


    As the day of the guild wars wasing nearer, all of the guild members were busy with missions and getting stronger.


    Even though they were confident in their strengths, they didn''t want to hold back their guild and thus were giving them all to make themselves stronger than they already were.


    When Felix entered his room, the first thing he did was take off all his clothes and take a bath to clean himself in the washroom.


    A few minutester, he came out and clothed himself before going to the dining hall.


    After a scrumptious dinner, he walked back to his room and locked the door. brought-to-you-by-NovelFire


    "It''s time to drink those potions and meditate."


    He took out the potions he had bought from the underworld and sat down on the floor.


    Opening the cork of the vial, he felt a dense amount of energy drifting out of it.


    "Snifffff* haaa. Is this mana?"


    He eyed the colorful drink in the vial with amazement and swirled it as it leaked a gas full of energy.


    ''Time to drink it. Here it goes!''


    Felix put the drink in his mouth and quickly gulped down everything without leaving a drop of it.


    The drink had a strange taste like that of a mix of herbs, but it didn''t feel unpleasant, instead, there was a slight bitter feel to it.


    A few secondster, he suddenly shivered at the abrupt explosion-like feeling inside of his body.


    The eyes which were closed for meditation shot open as his internal body felt like burning to the extreme.


    From his mouth, throat, chest, and all the way to his stomach, he felt a powerful reaction going on which made him feel ufortable.


    ''What''s happening?! I''m suddenly feeling so hot!!''


    Taking a deep breath which hurt more than it rxed him, Felix remembered what he had to do after drinking the potion, and instead of worrying about the pain he was going through, he turned his attention back to meditation.


    Using the meditation technique given by the guild, he focused his mind and took the rhythmic breaths, and controlled the energy inside his body to move in a loop all around his nerves.


    "Ughhh!!!"


    Even though the pain was making it hard for him to keep a conscious mind, Felix remained determined and bit his lips until it bled to make him remain focused on the situation at hand.


    All the energy and the power from the potion moved around his body along with the meditation technique''s rhythmic breath and slowly integrated with it making its way into the various pulsating nerves.


    "Kuhh!"


    Felix coughed out ck blood the moment the potion''s energy and his breath in the nervespletely joined together.


    Both of the energies interacted with each other and started fusing together making his veins slightly pop out and tremble all over his skin.


    His body started to slowly release ck color sweat and steam while he grits his teeth to continue meditating.


    After some amount of time, there was no energy left to be fused and every nerve inside Felix''s body appeared stronger and thicker than before.


    Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, Felix opened his eyes.


    "Haaa that was exhausting...."


    He stood up feeling the new strength inside of his body, but before he could test that he felt the dirty and sticky ck sweat on his body.


    "Well, another bath it is."


    Walking off, he quickly entered the washroom and cleaned his body.


    And while doing so, he marveled at the overall change that the potion had brought him.


    "Fucking hell, my muscles got bigger and I also got a bit taller!"


    He turned his eyes down looking at his little guy that towered above his belly and stood straight like a sword pointing toward the heavens.


    "It seems I''m still full of energy, huh.", he grinned and quickly ended his bath,ing out from the washroom.


    "Then let''s go release all this energy....."


    He quickly wore his clothes and walked out of the room, heading to the training room on the second floor along with his weapon.

 Chapter 79: Teammates

    Felix walked out of the training room after spending three hours in there.


    He was sweating buckets and gasping for breath from training by pushing his body to the limits to check his upgraded power.


    But even though he was finding it hard to even walk from all the exhaustion, there was a huge grin on his face at the thought of having gotten stronger.


    ''Damn! Who knew only one potion would make me this powerful!'', his eyes glowed fiercely remembering the nameless shop and thedy who had sold him those potions.


    ''What if I drink all of those potions at once? Won''t I get a whole stronger than I already am?''


    His thoughts got messed up as he felt greedy for more power and strength, but then he suddenly shook his head recalling what thedy had said.


    ''No. I can''t do that! She said one potion once every three days, and there must be a reason why she said that, so I can''t be careless about it....''


    Felix didn''t want to do something that would have an adverse effect, so he forgot about trying to do anything stupid and instead limped his way back to his room.


    Taking onest bath for the day, he jumped on his bed with his tired body and drifted to his dreams.


    "Zzzzz...."


    The boyy there, quickly falling asleep, and not mindful of the chaos he would bring to the arena of the underworld tomorrow.


    .....


    The next day, Felix woke up early as he had nned and sneaked out of the guild building without anyone noticing.


    He took out his map and walked over all the way from there to the tavern he had exited yesterday.


    And while walking over, he did not forget to quietly activate his Silent Steps skill and wear the ck mask to hide his identity.


    Arriving at the tavern, he kept the map and entered the lobby by swinging open the door.


    Like thest time, the people there only gave him a nce and returned to their work.


    But among them, one man stood up from his seat the moment he entered inside and walked over.


    Felix looked at the man approaching him while wearing a gray robe and instantly knew who this man was.


    ''I still don''t know his name but he''s one of Mr.Dealer''s men from yesterday.''


    The robed man neared him and whispered in a low voice.


    "Mr.Dealer is expecting you. Please follow me."


    Then the man turned around and walked upstairs.


    Felix already knew the reason he came to him, so he chased behind the man as they both entered into one of the rooms.


    There was a hidden staircase path in the room which the man opened the way to and they walked inside.


    After stepping down the stairs for about a few minutes, they arrived at one of the sparsely popted corners of the underworld.


    The gray-robed man paid the guard a few coins and guided Felix all the way to the lonely house where Mr.Dealer had brought Felix yesterday.


    Opening the door, both of them entered inside and saw a group of people present in the house.


    "Swoosh!"


    All eyes turned to them, especially on Felix as the gray-robed man swiftly made his way upstairs leaving him there.


    Felix kept himself calm and nced around the hall at the people staring at him.


    There were a total of three of them, all wearing masks and slight armor with their weapons resting on them, ready to be used at any time.


    Felix slowly moved his hand to his sword and gripped it as he became alert.


    The hall was in absolute silence as the people there kept ncing at each other without speaking a word.


    But the silence was abruptly broken as a voice from the stairs reached them.


    "Ahem! Now now there''s no need to be so guarded against each other, you guys will be working together as a team for this task."


    Everyone turned around and saw Mr.Dealer walking down the stairs with his signature smile on his face.


    The three of them stood up at his presence, while Felix walked forward from the entrance and stood beside them.


    ''So these guys will be working together with me?'', he eyed them with more interest taking in their details.


    Of the three, two were men and one was a woman, all wearing masks that hid their faces and wearing dark outfits.


    Mr.Dealer arrived near them and said.


    "How about we start by introducing all of you?"


    The four of them nodded before one of the men walked forward and introduced himself.


    "I''m Falcon, a zero-rank warrior using a sword and I''ve been participating in the arena battles for about two years now.", the man wore clothes like a swordsman with only his brown eyes revealed from his mask.


    Felix raised his brows knowing this guy had been fighting in the underworld for two years when another man walked forward and introduced himself.


    "I''m Berd, a zero-rank warrior, and I fight with a hammer.", said the robust man standing 2m tall with his short hair and wearing a mask hiding his lower face.


    He wore bulky clothes that could fit three Felix in there, and wielded a hammer behind his back that was about the same length as him.


    The only woman in the room came forward and did the same.


    "I''m Crystal, Zero-rank warrior. The weapon I use is a long sword."


    She stood at an average height with every part of her body covered in women''s warrior clothes except for her pair of shiny green eyes that weren''t covered by her mask.


    Seeing that it was his turn, Felix also went forward and introduced himself.


    "I''m Phantom, Zero-rank warrior and I use a short sword as my weapon.", he went back to silence as everyone turned towards Mr.Dealer.


    He nodded at their introduction with a smile knowing that he was the only one who knew their real identities and that they were still guarded against each other. experience-NovelFire


    It was normal for them to behave like this because if they didn''t, then he would have felt that he had made an error in selecting them for this task.


    "Good!", he praised and continued. "As you all already know, I''m your one and only Mr.Dealer and you all have been invited here to participate in an important mission."


    The four of them nodded seriously already aware of the fact that what they were about to do was dangerous and may even cost them their lives.


    "I''ve already discussed with each of you the terms and the rewards of this deal, and what''s left is to assign you guys your position and the battles that you''ll be going to take part in."


    Mr.Dealer motioned with his hand toward the empty side to his left, when suddenly the gray-robed man appeared like a ghost there.


    The four of them were a bit surprised at the sudden appearance of the man, now knowing that this man was actually not just a worker but a master who could easily end their lives.


    The gray-robed man handed Mr.Dealer a set of papers and vanished behind like a ghost, leaving the four of them who took a silent gulp.


    Felix licked his dry lips as his eyes remained at the ce where the man was standing just now.


    ''To think he could move so fast. No! it didn''t feel like he was moving, almost like he teleported. Crazy....what rank even is he?''


    Mr.Dealer nced briefly at the several parchments of paper in his hand before giving the four of them one paper each.


    "Take this. I''ve already scheduled your battles, all you have to do is go there and take part in it. Every one of you will be limited to three battles a day so that we don''t alert them into thinking that we are acting against them.", he exined.


    "Of course, they''re not so dumb that they won''t even notice it, but taking it slow will give us more time to n and prepare for the next course of action."


    After saying that, he waved his hands and materialized four bags in front of them.


    Felix''s and the other''s eyes widened when they saw these things appear out of nowhere but the only woman, Crystal showed just slight surprise in her eyes.


    ''Holy! Is that the legendary storage ring or something?'', Felix eximed in his mind eyeing the fingers of Mr.Dealer and noticing a strange ring that released a bit of glow.


    Mr.Dealer smiled seeing their reactions and decided to motivate them.


    "If youplete this task sessfully then I''ll be able to secure some of these rare space rings for you guys. So give it your all and win all those matches!"


    The three men''s eyes lit up at the chance of getting such a rare treasure and they replied seriously with vigor.


    "Yes Sir!"x3


    Mr.Dealer smiled while nodding to himself, but then turned serious as he warned them.


    "Also, try not to talk or have conversations with your opponents because they may have ill intentions, and may try to misguide your minds into believing their lies."


    Seeing them nodding at him, he gave onest advice.


    "Let me remind you again. The people you will be fighting against are from the dark guilds, so never ever let down your guard, do you understand me?"


    Hearing Mr.Dealer''s warning, the four nodded firmly and decided to never show any weakness in their uing battles.


    "Alright, you guys can go now. I''ll be watching your fights from a distance and will protect you from any ugly tricks that theye up with. Now, goodluck in your battles and I hope you win."


    Gripping the sheet of paper in their hands, the four of them slowly moved out from the house while the gray-robed man quietly apanied them to the arena.


    Watching them go, Mr.Dealer let out a tired sigh and shook his head.


    "There''s still a lot of work to do, I can''t be getting tired now..."


    The man went away to deal with various problems that needed to be handled for their missions to getpleted without a hitch.


    But hitches were not so easily taken care of, because they came at the time when it was the least expected.

 Chapter 80: Bellards Battle.

    As Felix and the other three came out of the house, they nced at each other and didn''t try interacting much.


    Instead, they turned towards the gray-robed man who motioned them to follow him.


    Walking away, the man guided the four of them through the puzzling streets of the underworld all the way to the Arena grounds.


    After reaching there, the gray-robed man nodded onest time at them and disappeared within the crowd.


    The four of them were left there on their own, so they took out their parchment paper to look into the information of their battles.


    ncing through, Felix found that he had his first battle in about twenty minutes with an opponent whose name or alias was Butcher. Then he had a break of a long one whole hour, after which he had his second battle.


    The same was true with the third battle, giving him much time to rest and prepare for the fight.


    Looking up, he saw that the other three were also having no problem with the arrangements of their battles.


    The four of them had not talked with each other at all from the beginning, and knowing that they were on the same boat with the same enemy to defeat, Felix decided it wouldn''t be bad to have a talk.


    Stepping ahead, he called out to them in a friendly yet low tone.


    "Hey guys, how''s your battle schedule looking? I got my first battle in about twenty minutes. What about yours?"


    Seeing him talk to them, the three of them appeared a little surprised as they gave each other a nce.


    The man who wore the swordsman outfit Falcon briefly looked at the other two and answered Felix.


    "Mine''s different, I have my first battle in about 30 minutes. It seems he gave us battles with different timings. Well, getting us matches at the same time wouldn''t be that easy."


    Falcon then turned to the other two for them to answer.


    Berd the huge guy looked at his paper before telling his schedule.


    "Umm you''re right. For me, the first battle starts in about 10 minutes it seems. Then I have a hour break before the other battles start."


    Felix and Falcon nodded as they had simr schedule, and they turned to the only woman in their group.


    Crystal contemted what she should say and decided to keep it short.


    "My first battle starts in 40 minutes.", she spoke in a soft and low voice, not saying more than necessary.


    Everyone nodded and then Falcon said garning their attention.


    "So, as I''ve been around here in the underworld arena for a long time, why don''t I show you guys around and give some useful information before we move to Berd''s Arena as his battle starts the first in ten minutes."


    Felix didn''t mind with that and actually wanted to know what this man knew about the various information about the underworld.


    Berd and Crystal also nodded at that as they agreed with him.


    The three of them then followed behind Falcon as he used his expertise and knowledge from his experience in this shady ce to give them a more clear picture of the underworld.


    As they walked around in the Arena grounds, Falcon muttered in a low voice as the rest listened attentively.


    "Just to make it clear, but what I''m about to say may not be the truth because there has never been something called ''truth'' in the whole underworld."


    He warned them at first and then continued.


    "So, there must be many things that you guys are curious about regarding the workings of the underworld, but the most important thing that you all must know is that this ce is controlled by a group of people who have power to even influence the surface world."


    Falcon acted cautious as he revealed some open secrets of the underworld that many didn''t know about.


    Berd and Felix perked up their ears hearing some new information, while Crystal remained silent.


    Falcon moved alongside them and continued.


    "The people in this group belong in different professions, and even just one among them has the capability to go head to head with a guild in Edenmont city.", he spoke with enthusiasm at this point.


    "They are the ones who hold the underworld together, and protects this criminal society ofwless people with their power and strengths."


    Felix got surprised knowing there were people who had the capabilities to go against a whole guild.


    It must be known that a single guild had more than a few hundreds members who were all above the first order, and to have the might to stand on the same level as them, a person would need a lot strength, resources and followers.


    ''Now it makes sense how the underworld survives in this city, where a lot of powerful forces gather and rule. They were also a part of it, being quite strong at that.'', Felix thought as he subtly nodded.


    He turned back to Falcon as they walked and talked.


    "Most of the members of this group are unknown and secretive, but I know that Mr.Dealer is one of them."


    Felix nodded as he agreed with that.


    That man moved around like he owned the ce, and looks like he actually really did.


    Falcon and the rest moved about talking and discussing until it was time for Berd''s battle to start.


    "We should get going now."


    They walked toward the Arena where Berd had his first match for today, and then when they arrived there, they watched as he waved at them before going into the path for the stage.


    "Goodluck there Berd.", Felix wished him.


    "Yeah, handle it well.", Falcon too said while Crystal turned to look at their teammate''s opponent.


    Standing on the stage, a man with his scarred face exposed could be seen grinning savagely at the crowd.


    The man was moving around the stage swaggering and showing off his muscles, not a least bit cautious or tensed of the uing battle.


    Felix and Falcon too turned to stare at the Arena as Berd finally reached there and walked onto the stage.


    The moment Berd stepped inside, his opponent paused his actions and turned serious ncing at the huge fellow.


    "Oh well, would you look at this. We got a big fat pig on our te."


    The manughed weakly trying to make the scene humorous, but Berd remained quiet as he always was and simply held out his giant hammer.


    "Gulp"


    The scarred man took a nervous gulp but then held his weapon tightly and waited for the referee to start.


    Seeing that both of the fighters were ready, the referee swung his g and started the match.


    "The battle begins!"


    The scarred man decided to strike first and dashed forward shouting out loud, his eyes bulging out from the rush and adrenaline.


    But his efforts were met with a heavy metal surface.


    "Swoosh"


    Arge hammer came flying through the wind, and hit right on the man''s chest.


    "Khhugh!"


    His body bent weirdly with his spine backwards, the man spurted out blood and flew out like a sack of meat, thennding and rolling at the corner of the stage.


    Berd flicked away some of the blood from his hammer and kept it back, before ncing at his opponent to check if he stands up or not.


    He waited a few seconds, and seeing no reaction he turned to the referee and nodded at him.


    The referee couldn''t do anything else than swinging the different g to end the battle.


    "And the winner is Berd!!"


    The quiet crowd that remained in their seats rose up at the mighty show of power and cheered up at watching such a quick end of the battle.


    Behind the crowd, Felix smiled strangely watching someone else win a match so quickly, as he earlier thought his case was rare.


    Falcon seemed to have noticed his smile as he shook his head and said with a narrowed eyes.


    "You''re surprised at that? Well you shouldn''t be, as Mr.Dealer chose us knowing we''re the best of the zero rank in the entire Arena here."


    Felix nodded hearing his words and realised he was teammates with the strongest of the zero ranks in the entire underworld. NovelFire-article


    The three of them waited there for a bit, and saw Berding out from the arena''s path.


    "You did good, Berd!"


    "You''re very strong!"


    Both the guys praised Berd making him scratch the back of his head with an awkward grin.


    "Ahaha it''s not much. That guy was just weak.", he replied trying to sound humble but it was the truth.


    Some cannon fodder from the dark guild''s grunt was not that much of an opponent to them.


    After a bit of chat, Falcon pped his hands and pointed to the other arenas.


    "Let''s get going. Phantom got the next battle in a few minutes."


    He then turned around with the rest following behind, and started walking toward the arena chosen for Felix''s battle as if he knew the entire ce like the back of his hand.


    While they moved, Crystal stayed at the back of the group and eyed Berd with her calcting eyes, recalling his fight.


    ''Hmm not bad....''

 Chapter 81: An Eccentric?

    There were loud cheers among the crowd as Falcon, Berd, and Crystal watched with wide lit up eyes, as Felix came towards them from the underground path of the arena in which he had just fought.


    "Umm that was quick, Phantom.", Berd said with an impressed and ''unbelievable'' expression on his face.


    Falcon rubbed his chin and sighed.


    "Well Phantom, do you know that you were faster than any of the fighters of the zero rank I''ve seen until now?", were his words after they witnessed Felix knocking out his opponent, with a speed that even they weren''t prepared for.


    "Not really, like Berd said these guys are just weak."


    Felix just shrugged at theirpliments while Crystal had her narrowed eyes moving all over him.


    They talked for a bit, as they made their way away from that arena and walked onwards to where Falcon would fight.


    As they went away, a group of men could be seen near the edge of that arena. Most of them seem to have ran over and were looking all over the ce.


    One of them, a slightly fat man tapped another on the shoulder and asked.


    "Where is he? You told you saw him, right? Then hurry up and tell me where the hell is he?"


    The other man nodded rapidly and looked around in a frenzy before remembering the direction.


    "There! I think he went that way! Also, there were three other people with him."


    As soon as the fat man got the answer he needed, he sprinted towards the specified direction.


    But someone else, a man thinner than him and with a bald head beat him to it, and hurried in that direction making the fat man nod in suprise.


    "Good Dufus! Quickly get to our lucky charm before he ends the next battles."


    Henry said with a exhausted smile as he got tired from running right off the moment he heard Phantom was back.


    Dufus, with a determined face surfed through the crowd searching all over the ce for the one he was looking for.


    After a few rounds in the area, he finally found the one wearing a ck mask and robe.


    He turned around with a grin and waved to call his friend s as they stopped looking around and quickly grouped together from all the corners.


    "He''s moving over there and it seems he got somepany with him this time.", Dufus told Henry while sneakily pointing at Felix.


    Henry looked at the back of Felix and smiled, his greedy eyes lighting up at the thought of winning more bets.


    "Come on guys, let''s follow him. And be quick, as that guy is quicker than all of usbined."


    As the group of men walked behind with smiles on their bright faces, Felix and his teammates arrived at another arena.


    "It''s my turn now. Well,.....I''ll be back in a jiffy then.", Falcon entered the underground path to the arena after they wished him luck.


    The three stood in silence and watched as the most experienced fighter amongst them walked onto the stage.


    The battle started and both the fighter rushed towards each other wielding their weapons.


    One, two and....three.


    It took only three swings for Falcon''s opponent to fall on his knees as the referee announced the winner.


    Even though he took a few more seconds than Felix and Berd had taken to end the battle, the three of them and the crowd could see that his moves wereprecise and straightforward.


    Falcon walked out from the arena and joined back to the group, his state a bit strange than before.


    "We should get going then, huh? So that Crystal can prepare herself up."


    The only women in the group twicthed her lips while the two men looked at each other and chuckled somewhat forcibly.


    Falcon then hit the back of his head, and coughed embarrassingly.


    "Uhh I''m sorry for that. I get a bit carried away after every fight.", his face looked a bit irritated but he was calming himself down.


    The rest didn''t say anything much and just thought to themselves.


    ''This one''s a crackhead, huh....''


    Crystal shook her head in disappointment and turned around, making her way toward the arena where she would be fighting.


    It was her first time in the underground battles, and if it wasn''t for the deal the man called Mr.Dealer had presented to her, than she wouldn''t be here.


    But now that she was already in such a ce, she decided to use whatever she can in her favour and make the most of it.


    Felix and Berd followed after her as they were curious about her power too, leaving Falcon who took deep breaths to calm himself and then chased behind them.


    "Shit! When will this go....."


    NovelFire-original


    As the irritated man and the rest left, they didn''t notice that a group of men who had followed them had confused expressions on their faces.


    "Isn''t that guy Falcon? What''s Phantom doing with him?"


    One of them asked the question everyone had on their minds.


    Henry looked deeply at the backs of the four and thought.


    ''Falcon is bad news yeah.....but what is he doing together with our Phantom?''


    Scared and uninterested of getting into trouble for knowing more than he should, he shook his head and decided it was better to handle his own business first.


    "Alright, guys. There''s no need for us to go deep into it. We''ll just follow slowly and bet if he is joining any battles."


    The other guys nodded as money was what made them more happy than some entric guy''s story.


    With expectations and hope on their hearts, they dispersed about and sneakily followed behind the team of four.


    It was the small amount of betting money that they were doing so much for, but they didn''t knew that in the near future, they will be doing much more than this and it would be for absolutely nothing at all.

 Chapter 82: Crystals Move

    Arriving at another arena, Crystal parted with the others and entered the stage.


    Felix and the two stood near the edge of the audience seats as they knew the battle wouldn''t take long for them to sit.


    As Crystal walked onto the stage, she studied her opponent and realized he was the same as her teammate''s previous opponents.


    Weak and loud, that is.


    The rowdy man was smiling eerily eyeing all over her, but she didn''t care about that and just held out her long sword.


    Seeing that both the fighters were ready, the referee started the match. Find joy in m-vlemp _yr.


    "Let the battle begin!"


    A few seconds passed but the man stood in his ce with a smirk and didn''t move at all, a bit unsuitable to the craze he was showing before.


    Standing on the stage with his weapon over his shoulder, the man licked his lips and muttered.


    "Hmm what a waste of such a good body....", his expression looked one of regret as he thought of something else.


    Taking a few steps forward, the man didn''t attack and instead tried saying something to Crystal.


    "Hey woman, how about you just surrender and then I show you around some corners of the ck marketter?", there was a crooked grin on his face looking at her as there were not many women in the underworld and especially not anyone participating in the arena battles.


    Crystal stood straight in her position without the slightest change of emotions in her eyes.


    Seeing the woman not responding, the man widened his smile and moved forward, only a few meters away from her.


    The three standing near the edge of the arena looked at each other in doubt and whispered.


    "Is she not going to attack?" Felix asked.


    "Maybe she''s waiting for him to get near...", Berd replied confused.


    Falcon was looking over with furrowed brows, as he knew that from the way Crystal was standing, she wasn''t going to use her long sword.


    "What''s she doing?"


    The audience watched in confusion as the man on the stage walked over dramatically while rubbing his neck.


    "It seems you''re waiting for me, huh.", the man teased almost nearing two meters from her.


    "Woman,e on let''s go have some fu-", the man stopped talking and froze just when he was about to get within the two-meter distance from her.


    His eyes abruptly widened in shock and there was an expression of struggle on his face.


    Suddenly, the man stepped back but then slipped and fell on the floor with a thud.


    There was silence in the whole arena as the audience took in the sight of a strong man falling unconscious without even getting hit.


    All eyes were on the woman named Crystal who ced back the long sword she hadn''t used at all and turned around to walk out of the arena stage.


    The people were not sure if they were to cheer or not as they didn''t understand what actually had happened.


    Even the referee was confused about the situation, but he moved forward and checked upon the fallen man.


    Secondster, the referee stood up with a stunned face and announced out loud.


    "T-The winner of this battle is...Crystal!"


    .....


    The three men, Felix, Berd, and Falcon nced at each other without hiding their confused expressions and discussed.


    "Umm does anybody know what just happened?", Felix the one with the least knowledge of everything regarding this world questioned.


    He couldn''t believe Crystal had won the battle without even doing anything. There weren''t any attacks and her opponent was knocked out, and this wouldn''t happen without her doing something, right?


    But the question was, what did she do?


    Falcon closed his eyes for a few moments and thought about something he had heard a long time ago.


    Opening back his eyes, he sighed and replied.


    "Phantom, how much do you know about battle techniques?"


    Felix turned to him and answered honestly.


    "Not much, I''ve recentlye across them."


    Nodding, Falcon continued.


    "Well, let me tell you about it then. Battle techniques are a set of unique movements, with the involvement of energy which results in a powerful effect.", he exined but didn''t stop there.


    "Now, what if there were techniques that gave powerful effects but without the use of any movements at all?"


    Falcon questioned atst while looking at the boy.


    Frowning, Felix thought about it and replied.


    "You mean there''s another type of battle technique and we don''t even have to do anything to use it?", he sounded unsure as he didn''t know about it.


    Falcon nodded and answered.


    "You''re correct. But these types of techniques are not called Battle techniques anymore and instead, they are called Special techniques."


    Turning around, he eyed the womaning near to them and concluded.


    "And what Crystal used just now was a Special Technique, something that is very rare, and very few people even know about it."


    He ended his words as the only woman in their group neared them and stood silently without anything to say.


    Felix looked at her and said.


    "Uhh nice battle there, Crystal."


    Berd too gave her apliment with an impressed face.


    "Yeah, it was unbelievable."


    Crystal just nodded to them and replied.


    "Nothing, he was just weak."


    The three men gave wry smiles at each other and shrugged at it.


    Falcon moved forward and told them.


    "We''ve seen each other''s fight now, so how about we go our ways and settle the remaining battles on our own?", he asked as they would be just moving around the arena if they went to see all the matches.


    The other three nodded at that and agreed as that would be a lot exhausting, and instead decided to move on their own.


    After a small talk, they separated and went about to their designated arena to continue their battles.


    But there was still some time left before any of their battles would start as they had an hour-long break after each of their battles. So they moved around the arena randomly taking in the fighting sights and chattering of the crowds.


    Felix moved alone looking at several of the arena matches here and there while slowly making his towards the ce of his next battle.


    "Hey, it''s you that Phantom right?"


    Suddenly, a man stood in front of Felix and blocked his way.


    The man had curly brown hair and had tan skin. He was standing there with an excited face and moved forward even though he didn''t get a reply.


    "Ourst match was really fun, I still can''t believe I got defeated by you even though I was giving it my all.", the man stood near Felix who raised his eyebrows.


    "Hmmm? I''m sorry I don''t remember who you are..."


    The man froze all of a sudden with a strange look on his face, his face turned slightly red but he coughed to hide his embarrassment.


    "Ahem Ahem, well let me introduce myself then, I am Warren, the one you battled with yesterday."


    Felix narrowed his eyes and remembered a guy using a sword who had shown nice swordsman skills in yesterday''sst battle,e but had gotten defeated the moment when he used his Agility burst skill.


    "Oh, I remember you now. The famous guy right? With the crowd cheering your name the whole fight until you lost that is.", Felix said somewhat humorously.


    Warren scratched the back of his head and just shrugged at it.


    "So what do you want from me?", Felix asked as he had a battle to do a few minutester.


    Making sure he was sounding polite, Warren asked the man what he wanted.


    "Umm Phantom, I want to challenge you to a battle today!"

 Chapter 83: The Group of Men.

    Staring at the guy who had asked him for a Challenge battle as if he was going to ask a girl out for a date, Felix gave the matter a thought and asked.


    "Hmm.....And why would you want to battle me?"


    The guy named Warren replied swiftly as he hade up with a reason already., "I felt something different when I fought against you, and I can swear that nobody has ever made me feel this way....", the man answered with his deep eyes staring right into Felix''s.


    With an emotionless face, Felix gave a polite nod of understanding but inside he was sweating bullets.


    ''That''s fucking gay!''


    Thinking that it was a waste of time to talk with this man who seemed to bend not the straight way, Felix decided to leave quickly before he got trapped into something shady.


    "Well, I''ll have to apologize then Warren. I have a tight schedule for today and won''t be having any time for more battles.", saying his answer, Felix gave the man ast nod and hurried away while clenching his butt hole.


    Warren remained standing there, his lonely shadow unresponsive to the rejection and with a contemtive look on his face.


    A few secondster, he shook his head turning back determined, and muttered to himself.


    "Phantom, I won''t ept this refusal. I''ll definitely battle you one day...."


    The man then walked away hoping for there to be a chance for him to feel what he had felt at yesterday''s battle.


    On the other hand, the group of men who were following Felix from all along the way whispered to each other.


    "Did you see that? That''s Warren from yesterday''s battle."


    "Yeah, what does he want from Phantom? Is he looking for revenge or something?"


    "Revenge? It looked more like he was asking for marriage."


    "Don''t know anything about that. But even if it is revenge, so what? Phantom is clearly stronger than him anyway.", Dufus whispered with full confidence. m|v|l|e m|p|y|r original content


    Henry patted their shoulder and said in a hurry, "Alright less talking, it seems our boy is going to take part now. We can''t miss it and we better reach there before the battle ends. Now go."


    The men nodded at their betting leader and hurried on, chasing behind Felix to not miss their chance of earning a dishonest day''s money.


    Arriving at the ce of his next battle, it didn''t take long before Felix quickly ended the battle, on which a few sneaky-looking men had ced their bets.


    Stepping out of that arena without wasting any more time, Felix thought of moving toward his next arena and waiting there till his battle came.


    While on his way, he nced around the various arenas and saw the fighters showing off their skills.


    The ce he was moving about was mostly around the arena numbered from eleven to thirty and more as that was where the battles of the zero-rank fighters took ce.


    As for the arenas numbered from one to ten, they were assigned only for the battles for the fighters of the first rank.


    And that was so because there were very few people who would still choose to take part in the arena battles after advancing to the first rank.


    Because as a First rank warrior or mage, there would be a lot of organizations and guilds that would seek you out to work for them, and only those who had a thing for battles would remain fighting in the arenas.


    As Felix came near the arena of his next battle, a deep voice suddenly reached his ears making him alert.


    "Phantom, there seems to be a group of men following behind and cing bets on you."


    Felix quickly turned around to look for the source of the voice but all he could see was the back of a man wearing a grey robe and mask walking away.


    ''It''s Mr.Dealer''s man....'', he realized and sighed a breath of relief.


    The man had gotten so dangerously close to him and he couldn''t even feel a thing. He felt thankful that the man was not an enemy, because if he were, then he would have died a few times by now.


    Slightly frowning, Felix thought back to what the man had whispered and pondered.


    ''What did he say? Some men are following me and cing bets on me?''


    Turning around, he sneakily nced over the ce behind him but couldn''t find anybody suspicious.


    ''Hmmm, then let''s try this.''


    Felix turned back towards the front and started walking away from there.


    When he had reached a corner, he sped up and hid to the side before disappearing from the public''s eyes using Silent Steps.


    He stayed under the shadows of a few boards and waited there for some time, with his eyes roaming over the ce looking for anybody searching around for him.


    And a few secondster, he saw them.


    Some men were ncing about the ce searching around eyeing each other, and then slowly started to join together when they failed to do so.


    Dufus, Henry, and the others kept looking at their surroundings as they discussed in hurried whispers.


    "Where did he go? I certainly saw him taking a turn at this corner..."


    "I saw him too, and the next moment he''s nowhere to be seen."


    Henry nodded too, wondering where the man had magically disappeared, and gave them orders before it was toote for them.


    "No point in wasting time, guys. We''ll have to separate again and search for him. He won''t be much far from us..."


    At the end of his words, the other men nodded and were about to separate to search for the man, when a calm voice interrupted them.


    "You''re right, I''m not that far from you guys.", the men turned around to look for the voice and a man wearing a ck mask and robe came into their sight who was curiously staring at them.


    The men became stunned and didn''t know how to respond as their faces turned strange, but the man continued.


    "In fact, I''m right beside you guys....."


    Dufus and the other men remained quiet as they didn''t know how to handle the situation and turned to look at their leader.


    Henry was having the most intense feeling as he had finallye face to face with the person he was recently thinking even in his dreams. The man who had given them a new chance to earn money and had gotten them away from their previous poverty.


    He didn''t know what to say and just waited for the man''s words.


    Felix looked at them and realized the slightly fat man was their leader or something. He turned to that man and asked.


    "So, I heard you''ve been following me around, eh?"

 Chapter 84: Henrys Idea.

    Henry took a gulp and looked between his friends and the man, Phantom. He didn''t know what to say, but as the man looked deeply at him with his ruby-like eyes, he knew he had to reply.


    Stuttering, Henry gave his answer.


    "P-Phantom, it''s umm you see w-we were not following you but going to that arena. It seems we were just moving in the same direction....", he decided to lie fearing the man would be angered at their actions.


    Felix nodded his head while narrowing his eyes and asked back.


    "Oh! So, you''re saying it was all a coincidence?", his tone wasced with amusement.


    "Yes Sir, it must have been a coincidence.", Henry quickly agreed and silently sighed as he felt he had done well at lying there.


    Felix again nodded with a slight grin on his face and looked around at the many men, who were standing with their heads bobbing up and down as they all agreed with it.


    With a sigh, Felix shook his head at their naivety and asked.


    "Well, don''t you think a group of men all separately walking in the crowd, eyeing each other, and moving in the same direction as me is a bit suspicious?"


    Henry''s face paled as his lie was easily seen through. ''Shit!'', His eyes moved around in a frenzy looking for a solution and so did the other men.


    Felix nced at them speechless and thought to himself. ''Hmm...Now what should I do with them...'', He didn''t know what to do about the situation as it was the first time something like this was happening to him.


    But he had to stop them from following him behind like this everywhere in the arena, as that would put him in danger and would look suspicious to anyone with sharp eyes.


    Suddenly, while the men remained silent, Dufus stepped forward and muttered to Phantom.


    "This...We apologize to you Phantom, for what we''ve been doing.....but betting on you is the only way we''ll be able to earn any money in the underworld.", he spoke with sadness as what he said was true.


    The group of men who hade together had no skills at any job, and wherever they went, people would look down on them for their ipetence.


    Their simr situations and abilities were what brought them together, and they had been going around in the underworld arena to see if they could win some money by betting to provide for their living expenses.


    After a long time of being around in this ce, they had met a few fighters worth betting on, but in the end, even those fighters would lose resulting in a heavy loss for them as they wouldn''t strategies their method of betting and simply use all their money.


    It could be said that they were a bit stupid and dumb, but that was what made them who they are today.


    Henry and the men looked at Dufus speaking with sadness and they shared the same feeling. They lowered their heads slightly as Dufus continued speaking to Felix.


    "I know we''re troubling you a lot by doing this, but please don''t stop us from betting on you. Because if we lose this way of earning money, then there wouldn''t be any other way for us to survive anymore.....", he pleaded with his eyes turning slightly red.


    Felix looked at the man in the eyes and sighed in pity.


    ''Sigh....I''ll just be stealing them of their livelihood if I do this....''


    He knew as an orphan what it felt to have no necessities and nothing to rely on in life. There would be no one to consult to if you had any problems, and you would have to earn for yourself in the cruel world for anything.


    Life wouldn''t always be easy sailing like a fish going through the river, but there would be a lot of problems and difficulties in it like a shark with its cruel jaws ready to eat you at any time.


    But Felix was lucky as he had been part of a good orphanage where at least he got food and some basic facilities.


    Looking at the group of men, he could see that although they were wearing clean robes on them, most of their clothes had holes and torn here and there.


    As for thenky and bald Dufus, the poor guy had directly shaved all of his hair at the thought of the expense of cutting it regrly.


    Scratching his head, Felix didn''t know what to do about the situation, should he tell them to stop or let them continue?


    ''Let''s see...it wouldn''t be a problem if they bet money on me, most people in the arena do so and it wouldn''t be anything suspicious.'', he thought.


    ''But if they follow me around everywhere I go, then that would raise a lot of hidden dangers as I''ve already made a deal with Mr.Dealer, and any anomaly would prove to be dangerous, especially considering so many men following behind me.''


    Felix pondered in silence as the men stared at him with worry in their eyes.


    Henry moved toward Dufus and patted him on the shoulder, telling him he did good.


    Dufus nodded and asked him in a low voice.


    "What should we do, Henry? There must be a way for us to solve this problem...."


    Henry looked at him with his thoughtful eyes and pondered if there was any such a way.


    Suddenly, his eyes lit up and he hit his forehead with augh.


    "Right! Why didn''t I think of this?!"


    Felix raised his head to look at the chubby man and so did the others as their expressions showed confusion.


    Dufus asked excitedly. find more stories on mv|lempyr


    "What happened Henry? What did you think?"


    Henry nodded at him and his friends, then turned toward Felix before telling him what he hade up with.


    "Phantom, there''s a better way for us to do this instead of following you around the arena grounds all the way to your arena stage."


    Felix raised his brows and asked back curiously to hear what the man had to say.


    "And what is that way you''re talking about?"


    Henry raised his lips into a wide smile, his eyes turning wide in excitement as he replied.


    "It''s simple! All you have to do is tell us about your whole battling schedule and we''ll reach that arena from different streets, even before you arrive there. Then nobody will suspect we were following you, right?"


    Felix and the men widened their eyes as the method he hade up with was very simple but they had not thought of it at all.


    While the men nodded their heads in agreement and discussed that this was a better way to do this without raising any suspicions, Felix narrowed his eyes.


    ''Give them my battling schedule? That''s impossible! I will be specifically fighting with the goons of the dark guilds, and if they somehow find out about it, then it wouldn''t be good.''


    He turned to look at the men and decided to refuse Henry this, but when he nced at them he saw a group of men smiling stupidly with stars in their eyes, now that there was a way for them to earn money.


    ''Ah, well I don''t think they''re that smart to connect all the dots anyway.....'', he shook his head with a chuckle and decided to agree with Henry''s n.


    But he didn''t want to be looked down on by anyone and seem easygoing as many would take advantage if you were being too nice, so he added a condition to it.


    "Alright, I''ll give you my battling schedule before starting the fights.", Felix said to them, and they quickly nodded happily with Henry and Dufus moving forward to shake his hands in joy.


    "But", he stopped before they could hold his hands and continued.


    "In exchange for that, you''ll have to give me thirty percent of the money you guys will be winning. That is my only condition."


    Henry and Dufus stopped in their tracks and turned to look at each other in puzzlement, they then turned back to the other men who just shrugged at it having no options.


    Both of them then smiled and held Felix''s hands before agreeing at it easily.


    "Sure, we''re alright with giving you thirty percent of the money.", Henry agreed without any bad feeling.


    "Yeah, it''s you who is going to do all the fight anyway.", Dufus chuckled while rubbing his bald head.


    Felix, with both hands in the hold of the two men, thought of the deal.


    ''So easily? Maybe I could have asked for more....''


    He then shook his head as a smile formed on his masked face.


    ''Well, taking too much would just make me look greedy. Also....they don''t seem so bad.... .''


    With the deal sealed, Felix remembered that he had a battle to fight in a few minutes.


    He told them they had to part now and gave them the number of the arena he was going to, then swiftly left the ce with his robe fluttering in the air.


    The men looked at him going away and smiled happily for giving them this chance and not stopping them from earning for their survival.


    Suddenly, Dufus eximed out loud as he started to run in a different direction.


    "Oh shit! Guys, hurry up! We won''t be able to ce bets on him if we arrivete!"


    Like pieces of bricks falling down, the men awakened from their stupors and quickly started to run in different directions before they gotte.


    "Fuck! We gotta hurry!"


    "My money, here Ie!"


    "Ahhh! I wish I had more legs!"


    Everyone dispersed but the chubby Henry was of coursest in the race, as he cursed at them.


    "W-Wait you fuckers! Wait for me, I''m FAT!"

 Chapter 85: Mysterious Old Man.

    The next battle was the same as usual, with Felix quickly ending the match using his sword technique and Agility Burst Skill.


    By now, his poprity as Phantom was already well known with the crowd of the underworld''s arena, giving him the title, of the fastest man in the underworld.


    Even though the skill Agility Burst only doubled his speed, it was enough to defeat his opponent with the addition of Ratio Technique skill, attacking only the weak points.


    Coming out of the arena stage, he eyed the group of men who had ced a bet on him and gave them a small nod before leaving the ce.


    After taking a few steps, he found a gray-robed person looking at him and then turning around after giving him a gesture to follow him.


    ''That was myst battle for today, what does Mr.Dealer want now?''


    A bit puzzled yet knowing there was still some time left before it got dark, he followed the man who led him through thebyrinth paths of the arena before reaching the corner where they walked upstairs through the curtained path in the wall.


    *****


    A few minutester, he found himself outside the house where he had met with Mr.Dealer twice previously.


    Stepping inside, he was greeted by Berd who seemed to have already arrived there a while ago.


    "Hey, how was your battle? You fought before me, right?"


    "Yeah, it wasn''t much. Easily took him down. How about yours?"


    As they discussed in small talk about their battles in the hall, Falcon also came into the house after some time and a whileter, even Crystal arrived there.


    When they all had grouped back in the hall and were chatting amongst each other, a gruff and deep voice from above the stairs interrupted them.


    "Hmmm, so these are the youngsters you''ve assembled to stand against the dark guilds?" The man''s low voice resonated through the house, capturing everyone''s attention.


    The four of them turned around and saw an old man walking down the stairs with Mr.Dealer respectfully following a step behind him.


    In fact, it was not quite right to call him an old man, as his 6-foot-tall figure looked robust and tough as if the man had never skipped training his body for a single day.


    But his gray hair and long white beard, along with aging wrinkles on the contours of his face, revealed that he was a man way past his prime.


    The old man was wearing a loose robe of mixed color of blue and ck with several gold strips designed beautifully. He held a unique magic cane in his right hand with a symbol of a serpent''s head on it.


    His eyes though were imbued with a sage-like feeling as it scanned through the four of them, and they felt that they were almost naked in front of him with all their secretsid before him.


    Falcon, who had been in the underworld for the longest time among the four of them, gulped while looking at the old man as he had heard a few rumors about such a personality.


    ''Is that him? No way....''


    He thought as he couldn''t evene close to believing that the man in front of him was the same man who was regarded as one of the most important people in the whole underworld.


    Mr.Dealer walked over from behind and introduced the old man to them, as he knew that they didn''t have proper knowledge of that person.


    "Falcon, Berd, Phantom, and Crystal, meet the man who was among the founders of the Edenmont Underworld, Estrada Moreza.", there was a tone of respect in his voice as he addressed the man.


    Felix and the others were stunned and speechless hearing that as they suddenly stood straight in front of the old man, who looked at them with an analyzing look in his eyes.


    ''One of the founders of the underworld? Holy fuck!", was all Felix could think of right now.


    Falcon was the most surprised of them as he realized what he was thinking was true.


    ''Fucking hell! That''s really Sir Estrada right there!'', his jaws were wide open as only him among them knew who the man truly was and what he represented to the whole underworld.


    Even though he was excited and shocked beyond anything, there was still a question that puzzled him to his core.


    ''But what is he doing here? For just us four weaklings?'', it wasn''t his fault to call the four of them as weaklings, as in front of such a huge figure like the old man in front of him, they were nothing but specks of dust.


    After Mr.Dealer introduced him, the four of them nodded respectfully at the old man to which he closed his eyes and ran his fingers through his beard.


    "Hmmm, nod bad. You guys are still growing from what I see. It seems you''ve done a good job at selecting them.", the old man named Estrada said while turning to Mr.Dealer.


    "Thank you, Sir, for your kind words."


    Mr.Dealer thanked the man with a smile.


    The old man faced back to the group of four who had no idea of what was about to happen and spoke.


    "I hope that the four of you already understand that going against the dark guilds is very dangerous, and it may put yourself and the ones around you in danger."


    Hearing his words that were giving them caution, the four of them nodded seriously as the old man continued.


    "But seeing how you all are still willing to fight against them, I suppose you guys are ready for the consequences or have your reasons for whatever it may be."


    Stopping for a second, his eyes narrowed as he continued.


    "Today''s battles might have seemed to have gone easily to all of you, but make no mistake, your opponents were among the weakest of the goons of the dark guilds, someone who could be discarded without any remorse.", there was no emotion in his voice as he talked about the weaklings as they were not worthy of his words.


    "As for the opponents you''ll be fighting from tomorrow onwards, now that could be a lot more challenging for you."


    Sir Estrada twitched his lips and then shook his head as he said.


    "Those bastards are the true subordinates of the members of the dark guilds who don''t abide by the rules and have no limits in the way of their battle."


    "Even in the underworld, you would rarely see such cases as everyone follows the set of rules ced in the arena, but these men don''t care about it and go crazy on the battlefield, going as far as killing their opponents although they''ve already won."


    The words of the old man made Felix and others shudder at the thought of fighting a deathmatch with those crazy lunatics.


    ''What the hell!? They''re going for the kills!!''


    The reason they had no problem with participating in the underworld arena battles despite its dangers was the strict rules that held back fighters from taking the lives of their opponents.


    And now with the emergence of these fuckers who wouldn''t care about the rules of the arena with the dark guilds in their backings, it would be a lie if they didn''t feel a bit uneasy.


    Estrada saw that they had a change in their expressions, and he couldn''t me them for it as this was going a bit against the deal they had made previously.


    "But don''t worry.", he pacified them while holding his cane with both fof his hands.


    "Because that is the reason I''m here with you today. To give you all a solution for this."

 Chapter 86: Equanimity.

    The old man Estrada''s words hung inside the room powerfully as the four stood straight.


    But then suddenly Falcon opened his eyes wide at the shocking revtion.


    ''N-No way! Is Mr.Estrada himself going to guide us??'',he thought unbelievably as the great founder was going to help them.


    The other three didn''t know what was going to happen but they were still a bit surprised someone so great was going to be aiding them.


    Estrada then looked at Mr.Dealer and nodded while giving him a gesture.


    Mr.Dealer nodded back and waved his hand, magically making four small pills appear on his palm.


    The four of them turned to look at the pills that Mr.Dealer had brought out from his space ring as he walked toward them.


    Estrada turned to instruct them.


    "Take those pills right now, they''re meant to serve as a limiter so that you won''t advance to the first rank, preventing you from being ineligible to take part in those zero-rank battles."


    Mr.Dealer handed all four a pill each and walked back, standing behind Estrada with a serious face.


    Felix looked at the blue colored pill and questioned.


    "We''re not yet near to reaching the threshold of first rank, so why do we have to eat this pill?", it didn''t make sense to limit themselves when they were still in zero rank.


    Falcon, who already knew what was about to happen didn''t answer and simply raised the corner of his lips with an excited look in his eyes.


    Instead, it was Estrada himself who replied with a strange grin.


    "Well, didn''t I say it already? I have a solution here for you....."


    That didn''t answer any of the questions they had, so they just nodded.


    "Alright, let''s get started. You guys can eat the pill now.", Estrada said as he waved his hand at them.


    Falcon was the first one to toss the pill into his mouth without any questions.


    And seeing him do that, the other three didn''t hesitate and ate the pill too.


    They didn''t feel anything much after eating the pill except for a cool feeling going throughout their body once.


    Seeing that they had taken the pill and put a limit on themselves from advancing to the next rank, Estrada nodded and started.


    "Get ready, and yeah...don''t get knocked out."


    The moment his words ended, and before they could even ask what he meant by it, a sudden wave of energy pressured them.


    "Whoosh!!"


    The four of them felt the force of gravity getting stronger on them, almost making them fall to their knees.


    "Huh! What''s this??"


    "This energy!"


    Confused and shocked, they resisted the force of energy while finding out that it wasing out from Estrada''s body.


    Suddenly, the force of the energy increased making them turn serious and stop fussing about the situation.


    Estrada instructed with his ck eyes brimming with radiant power and authority.


    "Now close your eyes and start meditating with utmost concentration, feeling the energy molding your veins and body. The longer you resist, the more you''ll gain.''


    After hearing his words, the four of them realized that this was the help or the solution he had for them.


    To put pressure on them until they improved.


    Closing their eyes, they focused on meditating even though it very difficult to do so.


    Mr.Dealer looked at them from behind Estrada with a strange grow in his eyes.


    ''You guys are pretty lucky. If it were not for the difficult times that the underworld hase to, then you wouldn''t ever have gotten such a rare chance of cleansing your bodies.''


    Yes, that''s right.


    What Estrada was doing was pressuring them with his powerful mana, not in a harmful way but in a very precise manner that very few in this world could do, to gradually release all the impurities in the body.


    Although a person would be able to remove the impurities in their body through regr meditation and cultivating, they would feel themselves advancing to the next rank before they could rid of the whole hundred percent of it.


    By taking the limiting pill and with the precise mana maniption from Estrada, the four of them would be able to cleanse all the impurities from their bodies, giving them a solid and perfect foundation that would make them stronger than the regr warriors of the same rank.


    And the precious ability to do this was one of the reasons why Estrada Moreza was regarded as a very important member of the Edenmont Underworld.


    Now, for the four of them to make the most of it and thoroughly cleanse their body of impurities, it would solely depend on their emotional control, fortitude, and their will.


    As time went by, the pressure of the energy increased gradually making them feel more and more out of breath.


    But they still preserved and held onto themselves, forcing their mind to rx and breathing in rhythms to concentrate on meditating.


    Felix, who was new to all this cultivating and meditating stuffpared to others was having the hardest out of all.


    ''Shit! If this goes on then I''ll pass out in a few minutes now!!''


    His mind couldn''t focus due to the pressure at all, rendering his meditating useless and instead giving him more difficulty in keeping his consciousness awake.


    "Whoosh!!"


    The energy suddenly increased making the four of them hard to breath, especially Felix whose face turned red due to abnormal blood pressure inside his body.


    ''Ughhh! I can''t continue anymore....''


    As he faced off against the ever-increasing and suffocating energying from a cultivator of possibly more than the third rank, Felix realized that he couldn''t afford to keep going like this and had to try something else.


    Experience the best from m-vl _emp _yr.


    ''There''s no other choice, I have to create a new skill, or else everything''s going down the drain.''


    Almost on his knees, Felix diverted his mind a bit to think about a suitable skill that could aid him in this problem.


    ''Let''s see...nobat skills as that would be costly and not useful in this particr situation. Now that leaves with..... something like an auxiliary and passive skill I guess....''


    Thinking hard about a good skill even though his thoughts weren''t straight as of this moment, Felix went through his memories and knowledge, finding something that could be the most suitable to deal with all this pressure.


    ''Ughh....energy...resist the energy.....I gotta concentrate....focus and then ughh....be calm yeah be calm...wait that''s it!'', in his jumbled up and mess of a mind, a sudden thought of creating a skill emerged.


    ''System, quickly create this skill for me right now!'', Felix shouted inside his head as his consciousness almost reached its limit and he couldn''t hold himself anymore.


    [Processing the skill''s power scale....grading the skill....estimating the possible points required...skill sessfully moduled.]


    [Ding!]


    [Skill Name: Equanimity


    Description:


    A passive skill that enables the user to possess an unparalleled serenity, a harmonious bnce that allows them to navigate the tumultuous waves of emotions and external pressures with unwaveringposure.


    This skill is a manifestation of inner peace, granting the user rity of thought, resilience in the face of adversity, and the ability to turn all of the pressure into a more focused concentration


    Cost: 140 Skill Points.]


    [Do you wish to use 140 skill points and create the skill ''Equanimity''?]


    Felix, who was on the verge of falling down wasn''t in the mood to go through the description and his only thought was to keep his mind awake, so when the system processed the skill he didn''t waste any time and hurriedly agreed.


    ''Create it already, can''t you see I''m about to go off?...''


    ....[Ding!]


    That was what Felix heard inside his head when his body slowly started falling forward onto the floor....

 Chapter 87: Cleansing

    The horrendous pressureing from Estrada wasn''t something Felix who was a Warrior Apprentice could handle.


    His body couldn''t keep up with the energy pressing down on him, making him fall headfirst onto the ground.


    But that was when a voice entered his mind.


    [Sesfully created a new skill!]


    Suddenly, it felt as if time stopped for a second, but that one second felt like an eternity to Felix.


    ''Huh, what''s happening?'', it all started with a puzzled question inside his mind. Then,


    "Boom!"


    Before he could find the answer to his question, Felix felt as if a bomb had detonated inside his consciousness.


    "Whooshhh!"


    And then, as if a ck hole had formed deep inside his mind, every useless thought started to twist around at one point, until it absorbed everything leaving behind nothing of disturbance.


    Felix, whose body was moving closer to the ground, suddenly opened his eyes, showing pure rity without any disturbing emotions.


    Seeing the floor getting near to his face, he quickly moved his right leg and stomped hard onto the floor, bncing his swaying body.


    Like an agile cat, he turned his body around and went back to the position he was before his body fell down, but with his eyes open now.


    Seeing such a spectacle y right before their eyes, Estrada and Mr.Dealer arched their brows but then nodded at the boy''s determination to not fall at the pressure.


    But only Felix knew what was happening inside his mind.


    ''Huh??''


    No, even he didn''t truly understand what actually was happening.


    ''My thoughts....''


    He felt as if he didn''t have to worry about anything, that as long as he had the ability to think, he could find an answer to every problem there is.


    ''Let''s do this!''


    Standing straight like a tall tree, he closed his eyes, unaffected by the sheer pressure pressing down on him.


    Even though a great mass of mana was being engulfed on his whole being, his muscle nerves connected with his mind where his consciousness wasdidn''t respond to it as it would usually do.


    Instead, they remained in a state ofplete bnce, not letting any external factors influence his actions.


    ''I can feel it now.....''


    As he went back into meditating while taking much more precise breathing rhythms then before, he could finally feel the surrounding mana gushing into his nerves.


    The mana flowed through his whole body and eliminated all the harmful and impure substances at every corner of his body.


    Compared to before, Felix didn''t feel anything disturbing in his mind at all, making him focus all his attention only on meditating.


    Few minutester, he could feel that the impurity in his body was about to released out of from the pores of his skin, ''It''sing out...'', but that was when the pressure on him abruptly stopped.


    ''It stopped?''


    A bit confused, he twitched his brows and slowly opened his eyes.


    Around the same time, the other three also opened their eyes and looked confused as to why the pressure was stopped just when they had reached the climax.


    Estrade saw their confused faces and coughed at Mr.Dealer, who nodded back at him and turned to the four with a strange face.


    "You guys have now already reached the point where you can release all the impurity without anymore help, but we can''t let you do that here....."


    He eyed them seriously while bringing his hand over his nose and continued.


    "So go to your homes and do it."


    The four youngsters who had been totally focused on meditating were confused with what he was saying, but quickly they were brought back to their senses when they smelled a nasty odouring off from them.


    Their faces turned a bit pale as they quickly blocked their nose from smelling their own bodies.


    Estrada could already be seen walking upstairs back to the second floor as he wasn''t fond of such things.


    Mr.Dealer gave them a quick nod while taking a few steps backward.


    "Alright guys, you can go and rest for today, we''ll meet again tomorrow."


    He waved at them and chased behind Estrada without ncing back.


    "This...."


    Falcon was left speechless at their behaviour, but turning around he saw that starting of with Crystal, everyone had already ran out of the building back to their homes.


    *****


    Felix was going back to the guild building, and throughtout the whole way he had to tightly hold his robe around his body and pinch his nose hard, preventing himself from breathing in.


    ''Shit! I smell worse than shit!'', he cursed in his mind.


    The smell was very suffocating making people run away from him as soon as they smelled it, giving him a clear path to run on.


    m|v|l|e m|p|y|r original content


    ''Ughh I need a bath!!!''


    He felt that if he opened his nose, then he would surely faint.


    But thankfully, his newly created skill helped him a lot in this situation, by keeping a bnce in his thoughts and giving him a mental protection from unhealthy odours.


    As for the people around him, they ran away the moment he came ten meters near them.


    ''I''m sorry everyone, there''s nothing I can do....''


    Travelling all the way from the underworld, the secret tavern, and to the surface, Felix ran through the alleyways of Edenmont and finally arrived at the guild building.


    ''Finally!!!''


    He quickly activated the skill Silent Steps while entering the gates, and opened the main door of the building.


    Not wanting to be careless, he also avtivated the skill Agility Burst and sped through the main hall the moment the doors opened.


    There were a bunch of guild members sitting around at the lobby, and when they heard the door open, they turned around to look but there was nobody standing there.


    "Huh, thats weird...."


    "Yeah, why did the door suddenly open?"


    As they discussed among themselves in confusion, suddenly a horrible stench hit their nostrils.


    "Fuc*@ng He!!&!"


    "Holy Sh!¡ê!"


    "Who farted!!"


    "We''re under attack*^!!"


    Chaos spread throughout the lobby as the members quickly blocked off their nose and brought out their weapons looking around for the culprit.


    Meanwhile Felix who had unleashed a fight between the guild members locked himself inside his room and jumped into the bathroom, throwing the dirty clothes in a corner.


    His only thought at this moment was to take a long and satisfying bath, removing all the dirty smell on his body.


    *****


    Edenmont Underworld, Mr.Dealers base.


    Estrada walked out of the building and turned back to the man who was seeing him out.


    "You''ve done well. Gathering those youngsters was a good idea, especially now that we need more people eventhough they''re weak."


    Mr.Dealer gave a polite smile and replied.


    "It was nothing. Compared to who we are about to face in the near future, we''ve not even anywhere near close to fight them."


    Estrada''s face turned into a dark look as he sighed.


    "Don''t worry, the situation is not that bad. But if thingses to worse, then....."


    He didn''t continue but Mr.Dealer got what he was getting to, as his face took a drastic change.


    "Hmm, there''s a lot of work to do, I''ll be going now then."


    Estrada left the building and walked out before disappearing into nothing.

 Chapter 88: Skill Upgrade.

    After having a refreshing bath, Felix walked out of the bathroom with a smile on his face.


    Just now, he had felt the strength in his body while bathing, it hadn''t increased by much but when he started to meditate, he could feel that there was no resistance to the flow of mana in his body at all.


    And with the addition of his new skill, he could easily start meditating at any moment now without worrying about a stable mind.


    "To think that old man would be able to increase the proficiency of meditating by so much...."


    Felix''s eyes glowed fiercely realising how such an improvement would affect him in the times toe.


    Then he remembered the new skill he had created at the critical moment, just when he was about to faint.


    "System, show me all the details of the new skill."


    [Affirmative.]


    [Skill Name: Equanimity


    Description:


    A passive skill that enables the user to possess an unparalleled serenity, a harmonious bnce that allows them to navigate the tumultuous waves of emotions and external pressures with unwaveringposure.


    This skill is a manifestation of inner peace, granting the user rity of thought, resilience in the face of adversity, and the ability to turn all of the pressure into a more focused concentration.


    Cost: 140 Skill Points.]


    "Hmmm..."


    While reading through the information, Felix suddenly widened his eyes.


    "What?? 140 skill points? Isn''t that a bit too much for a nonbat skill...."


    He had created the skill at the nick of time without carefully taking a look at it as he was not in a condition to do that.


    But now that he looks at it, the skill which was an auxiliary skill had cost him the same as it would take for a decentbat skill.


    Shaking his head, he decided to forget about it as milk had already spilled. The skill had been useful at the time, so he didn''t have many regrets.


    "Anyways, show me my status and how many skill points are left."


    The guild wars were just around the corner, and he didn''t know anything about them, giving him an unclear idea about what was going to happen.


    And only the skill points that he had gathered gave him some assurance from not getting into trouble.


    [--Status--]


    [Name: Felix]


    [Race: Human]


    [Age: 14]


    [Sex: Male]


    [Mage Cultivation: Rank 0]


    [Warrior Cultivation: Rank 0]


    [Talent: ¡ï¡ï ]


    [State: Partially Pure Viens with strong muscles.]


    [Skills: Silent Steps, shback, Earth Swimming, Ratio Technique, Parabolic Hearing, Earth Spikes, Agility Burst, Corrosion, Equanimity. ]


    [Skill Points: 350]


    Surfing his eyes over the status screen, Felix nodded while looking at his state and the many skills, then came to the skill points.


    "350 skill points huh..... it''s not that much but I suppose it''ll be enough....."


    Saying so, he once again nced at all of his skills and pondered.


    "shback, Parabolic hearing, and corrosion skills are not usually needed most of the time, while Silent Steps seems a bit weakpared to my new skills."


    Coming to a decision, he called out to the system.


    "System, is it possible to upgrade an existing skill to a better version?"


    The system replied swiftly.


    [Yes, it is possible. But the upgraded change would still depend on the host''s imagination.]


    While thinking about his first skill Silent Steps, Felix recalled its shorings and disadvantages.


    "Hmm...this should be good."


    After a few minutes, he thought of a suitable upgrade for the skill and imagined it.


    "System, try to upgrade it like this."


    [Affirmative.]


    [Processing the skill''s power scale....modifying the skill....estimating the possible points required.....skill sessfully modified.]


    [Skill Name: Silent Steps(Upgraded)


    Description:


    Completely hides the user''s presence and sound.Your footsteps be untraceable. No effect on beings 2 Ranks higher than the user.]


    [Cost: 60 Skill Points.]


    Seeing the new description of the upgraded version of the Silent Steps skill, Felix nodded.


    "Good, this skill now has 100% efficiency in hiding my presence and even works when people are looking at me. That means when I activate this skill, I''ll suddenly disappear from everybody''s sight."


    The cost of it was also within his expectations, so without wasting any more time he told the system to upgrade the skill.


    [Ding!]


    [Sessfully upgraded the skill ''Silent Steps''. Does the host wish to change the skill''s name.]


    "Nah, keep it as it is."


    There was no point in changing the skill''s name, as what truly mattered was its power and usefulness.


    Before, it only lowered his presence and turned off any sound, but now itpletely hides both of them.


    While thinking about the skill''s upgrade, suddenly Felix had an idea of testing it out.


    Wearing his clothes after realizing that he was butt naked all the time, he walked out of his room.


    Felix then moved towards the dining hall as he felt famished, but before entering, he activated his upgraded skill Silent Steps.


    After that, he slowly opened the door and slipped inside without making much noise.


    The dining hall was as usual not that crowded.


    With guild wars just around the corner, most of the guild members were out on missions to get stronger or get more resources for themselves.


    Felix who had his skill activated was like a fish swimming between sharks.


    Fortunately, there were no people of the 3rd rank in the dining hall, or else they would''ve seen him jumping around making goofy faces, and pranking everyone present there.


    In Twilight Chaos Guild, the highest a member could have was Rank 2, after which they would be part of the upper echelon of the guild and move to the fourth floor, gaining the title of ''Executive''.


    One such example was Miss Elsa, the receptionist of the guild who was of the Rank 3 and also the assistant of the Guild Leader.


    All this information was something Felix had heard from Steve''s banter.


    But now was not the time for him to recall all that, as he was busy eyeing the food on the tes of other people.


    ''Hehe, thanks for the food.''


    Felix walked past several tables and picked up some food from other''s tes. He could have just taken a te of food for himself, but sometimes doing a prank was not a bad idea.


    Grinning with a funny face, Felix crept towards the many tables in the dining hall and quickly picked some food from here and there before stuffing them inside his mouth.


    Even though he felt what he was doing was a bit unsightly, the thrill of doing such things made him unable to stop himself.


    Going around the hall without getting anybody alerted while moving quietly, he noticed a person with curly brown hair and remembered who he was.


    ''Wait, isn''t that Steve''s teammate? What was his name again...hmm, I don''t remember.''


    Shrugging his shoulders, Felix stopped thinking of his name and instead sneakily approached him.


    The boy with curly brown hair was quietly eating his lunch while reading a book in his hands with a serious expression on his face.


    A bit curious, Felix went behind the boy and peeked at the content of the book to read what the boy was reading.


    ''Hmm...let''s see...'', Felix then started reading the book, ''and then he pushed her against the wall, raising her chin. They looked into each other''s eyes, feeling the emotions that both of them had hidden deep inside....'', wait-! isn''t this a romance book!!.....''


    bbergasted, Felix didn''t know how to react.


    From what he remembered, the boy with curly brown hair was a rude and haughty fellow, and to think he liked reading these types of romance books.


    ''You really can''t judge a person by their appearance....''


    With these thoughts, he shook his head and quickly grabbed a few pieces of roasted meat that the romantic books lover was eating and sneaked away from there.


    When he was moving around the hall to find his next target, he overheard something interesting from a group of people sitting together at a table.


    "I don''t know for sure, but yeah it seems there was an incident in the lobby where some guys started attacking each other."


    Felix raised his brows hearing that there was a fight in the lobby. ''A fight? That''s unusual...'' discover m,v,l,e,m,p,y,r novels


    "Those idiots! Don''t they know that fighting inside the guild is strictly prohibited, and when caught you''ll be facing severe punishment."


    "Well, that''s what happenedter. Miss Elsa rounded up all of them and then took them down there...."


    A chill went down the spines of everyone when they heard that they were taken down ''there''.


    A curious guy then asked.


    "Do you happen to know the reason why they fought?"


    The other guy replied.


    "Hmmm...I heard that there was suddenly a dirty smell that spread through the whole lobby and after that, those guys made trouble and fought amongst themselves...."


    Listening to the man''s words, Felix tilted his with a strange expression on his face.


    ''Wait- A dirty smell? They were not fighting because of me, right?''


    Shaking his head, he didn''t care much about it and instead grabbed some hot buns from their tes, while they were busy gossiping about.


    After having eaten quite a lot, Felix decided it was enough lunch for today and sneaked out of the dining hall without alerting anyone.


    ''That was a nice upgrade, with this I''ll have a better chance of sneaking upon my enemies and defeating them before they can react.''


    Nodding, he walked back to his room and entered inside before locking the door.


    Just when he was about to stand in front of the mirror to take a good look at his handsome face, his eyes caught the sight of a book that he had neglected for a while.


    "ck horizon Sword Arts, huh...."

 Chapter 89: Sword Techniques and Bad News.

    Felix picked up the Sword Arts manual that was given to him by the guild.


    From what Miss Elsa had said, the ck Horizon Sword Arts was found in some faraway kingdom''s ruins by the higher-ups of the guild.


    It was an iplete manual with only three basic sword moves recorded in it, without its specific Aura-manipting technique.


    That was why the manual was only graded at the peak-umon grade.


    m|vl|e|mp|y|r article


    Opening the book, Felix saw the first technique, Singr sh that he had already mastered and went on to read about the next two techniques written on it.


    "Next are...Striking des and Assault Impact."


    Laying on the bed, Felix started learning about the ways of performing the two techniques.


    He wasn''t aware but his passive skill Unanimity was helping him keep a stable mind and improving the efficiency of his understanding and learning.


    ''Hmm, both of these techniques are amazing.''


    A few minutester, he had finished reading the whole book.


    ''Now I''ll have to practice these techniques.''


    Even though he had read and understood how to perform those techniques, he wouldn''t be able to start using them in battles until he practiced and made his body remember those techniques.


    Changing his clothes into a ck tight training outfit, he picked up his short sword and walked out of his room towards the stairs.


    Going to the third floor, he entered the training room and turned the door board around showing it was upied.


    A few hourster, he walked out of the training room with an exciting smile on his face.


    "Damn! They were much better than I expected!"


    He hadn''t thought much of the two techniques, but only after practicing them did he find how useful and powerful they were.


    Unlike the first technique Singr sh which was a direct attack technique that dealt damage in only one move, the other two were different.


    The second technique, Striking des was a set of many moves with seamless transitions from one strike to another, creating a continuous and fluid onught giving no chance of retaliation for the opponent.


    As for the third technique, which was called Assault Impact, it was a bit simr to the first technique as it was performed in only one move but there was a huge difference between them.


    Assault Impact uses a lot of force in its attack which pushes back the opponent and makes them go numb for a few seconds.


    And that was speaking without using aura in those techniques.


    When Felix could finally use aura, then the power of those techniques would rise by arge scale.


    Both of these sword techniques would be a lot useful to Felix during tomorrow''s arena fights and the uing guild wars, that was why he was happy about learning them and also a bit regretful that it was an iplete manual.


    ''I wonder what more techniques are there in thepleted manual of the ck Horizon Sword Arts....''


    Felix pondered as he walked back to his room and started his regr routine of meditating.


    A few hourster, he stopped meditating and took a shower before going to the dining hall to have dinner.


    This time, he didn''t steal other''s food, or more like he couldn''t as everyone had already realized someone had robbed them and were now guarding their tes with an rming look in their eyes.


    After having a full te meal, he walked back to his room and jumped onto the bed, slowly drifting into slumber.


    ''There''s a lot of battles tomorrow, I hope my opponents are stronger than the previous ones....''


    These were hisst thoughts before he fell asleep.


    *****


    The next day, 6 am.


    Felix sneaked out of the guild building wearing a ck robe and moved from there to the secret tavern, while covertly equipping his mask on the way.


    Then he went inside the hidden room by himself, walked down the stairs, and entered the underworld where he tipped the guard who was sitting at the end of the path.


    He made his way through the ck market and moved toward the deserted region to Mr.Dealer''s base and entered the building.


    "Hmm? Nobody''s here yet?"


    The hall was empty with no one present.


    "I guess I should wait for them....."


    Felix sat down on a chair and waited for the others.


    His thoughts drifted to what kind of opponents he could get to fight today, especially after Sir Estrada had said that they were going to face stronger enemies this time.


    It didn''t take the others long, as all of them came one by one within ten minutes and gathered together.


    "Phantom, you''re early. It seems you''re really eager to battle again."


    Falcon voiced out as he could see that the guy was acting impatient.


    Felix nodded while pumping his fists.


    "Yeah, I can feel that I''ve grown stronger than before, so I can''t wait to test myself out."


    The other three nodded listening to him as they had also grown stronger than before, after they had gotten their veins cleansed out yesterday.


    "Haha, you''re right. Even I want to see how strong I''ve be. Yesterday''s guys were weak, so I hope atleast today''s opponents give us a hard time."


    The four of them could be seen as the strongest of the many fighters in the zero rank in the underworld, so of course there wouldn''t be many people who could face them.


    But today, they were going to fight against the real subordinates of the members of the dark guilds, and although they would be of the same zero rank, they would atleast have some dirty tricks up their sleeves.


    As the four of them continued chatting, the door of the building opened and Mr.Dealer along with his gray robed assiatant walked inside.


    Removing the hat from the top of his head, Mr Dealer adressed them with a serious look in his eyes.


    "Everyone, there is bad news."


    As his words entered their ears, they all stood up puzzled and asked back.


    "What happened, Mr.Dealer?"


    The man let out a sigh and replied with a regretful face.


    "The dark guilds have found out about our ns of defeating their members and tarnishing their reputation, and now they''ve already informed their fighters of our presence. That means you guys won''t be able to surprise them with your strength, and they would be ready for you, fighting with their full power from the start of the battle."


    The news made the four of them frown but that didn''t made them fear as they had confidence in themselves.


    "That''s alright, Mr.Dealer. Infact, we want them to give their all as thest battles weren''t much to our levels."


    Falcon replied with a grin on his face, not much affected by the news.


    Berd and Crystal nodded as they weren''t much concerned about whether their opponents were going to be ready for them.


    As for Felix, he was the happiest as now his opponents won''t be going out with a single strike, and he could also test his new techniques.


    Mr.Dealer smiled seeing that they weren''t the least bit bothered with fighting against the members of the dark guilds.


    Nheless, he still warned them for their safety.


    "Alright, it''s great that every one of you have confidence in yourself, but I''ll still warn you all to always be alert when fighting against them and never to let down your guard."


    The four of them nodded seriously, and remembered his warning.


    Mr.Dealer then turned around with his robe fluttering in the wind, and started walking out of the building while gesturing to them.


    "Come on let''s go, there''s no point in hiding ourselves now that they already know about us."


    ncing at each other, the four of them shrugged with a small smile on their faces as Mr.Dealer himself was going to be present there today to witness their battle, and followed behind the man to show the underworld and the dark guilds their true abilities.

 Chapter 90: Before the Battle.

    With Mr.Dealer at the front, everyone followed behind him as they moved through the enormous ck market, all the way to the Underworld Arena entrance without hiding their presence.


    Now that the dark guilds already knew who was going against them, he realized that there wasn''t a need for them toy low any longer, and instead, it would be better if they confronted them head-on.


    His mind raced to find the most suitable solution for handling this situation.


    The forces of the underworld had togethere up with this decision of fighting off the low-level grunts of the dark guilds with their experts from the Arena, to prevent their people from building a strong reputation here.


    And the duty of carrying this out was given to Mr.Dealer, as he was the best to deal with these kinds of problems with his eloquent tongue and maniptive thoughts.


    While they had been walking from their base to here, Mr.Dealer ordered his subordinates to spread the news about the sh between the rising stars of the underworld and the notorious dark guilds that wanted to rule over them.


    The people of the underworld were already happy with the rules andws of this criminal turf, as it didn''t entirely restrict them and also gave them protection against their many foes.


    So, if they got to know that there was a certain force, especially the dark guilds that wanted to take over the Underworld, who could possibly change the many ways of their life, then they would not just keep quiet and do nothing.


    His subordinates, all of whom wore gray robes flickered all over the underworld, sharing the information with everyone present in the crowd at a quick rate.


    This ignited a wave of emotions throughout the poption of the underworld where people of every crime gathered, resulting in loud exmations and a slightly tense atmosphere in the whole ce.


    Now, as for whom they would support? Wasn''t that obvious?


    The fight was between their own people of the Underworld against those outsiders who wanted to control them. They didn''t need more than a few seconds to find whom they should support in this battle.


    With the sudden news of this matter, the whole underworld moved around with lots of forcesing out of their bases to seek their own benefits in this whole fiasco.


    The people moving toward the Arena increased as time went by, as everyone rushed to watch how the epic battle that held the underworld''s fate would turn out to be.


    Standing outside the Arena entrance, Mr.Dealer handed the four of his fighters papers that contained their schedules for today''s battle and said.


    "It was decided that you all will be having battles simultaneously at different arenas to prevent the forces of the dark guilds from gathering."


    "But don''t worry, my subordinates and even myself will be silently guarding you at every moment. So you can rest assured that there won''t be any hidden harm inflicted on you."


    The four of them received it and read through the three papers given by him.


    Yesterday, they had been given only one piece of paper with only their opponent''s name and the number of the arena where they would be battling.


    But now, they were given three papers each for the four of them, that contained the detailed information of the opponents they were going to face today.


    As they read through the papers, they couldn''t help but feel a sense of excitement and thrill going through their minds, because, unlike their previous opponents who could be taken down easily, they could see that today''s opponents were much harder to defeat.


    And that didn''t scare them, instead, they felt eager to test out their new power, because if they were scared of fighting against strong enemies, then they wouldn''t have joined the underworld battles at all.


    After they gave the papers a detailed nce, Mr.Dealer coughed and gathered their attention.


    "Today, we''ll be directly going against the dark guilds without hiding our presence. But that doesn''t mean we have to cower and dread them."


    Eyes shining with a powerful gleam, Mr.Dealer dered as his lips slowly raised.


    "Remember, this is our turf. So, no matter what they try, don''t hold back anymore. Show them what it means to go against the Underworld!"


    His words brought about determined smiles on their faces, reminding them that the dark guilds had no power in this domain in which they had the upper hand.


    Nodding at the four of them, Mr.Dealer gave them ast nce while gesturing them to enter the Arena.


    Clenching their weapons, the four of them stepped forward into the Arena with their figures brimming with a powerful aura, as they were ready to face off against their adversaries.


    *****


    On the other side of the Underworld Arena, deep into a dark corner, a few figures could be seen huddled together while whispering to each other.


    Suddenly, low and rhythmic footsteps echoed from the far away darkness which slowly neared until it stopped just before them.


    The huddled figures turned to look at the person who had stood before them, and they quickly prostrated with their heads on the ground shivering at the sight of the man in the dark robe.


    The pressureing off from the hooded man made them unable to move their bodies, much less greet him.


    They couldn''t even take a deep breath, afraid of angering the devil that had haunted them with his evil reputation.


    The man in the dark robe stared emotionlessly at the pawns he had gathered for today''s mission, thinking whether they were fit to deal with the mission or if he should just kill them and look for someone better.


    But doing that seemed tiresome, and he was also toozy to waste any more time on this, so he decided to just use a useful yet deadly shortcut.


    Swinging his hand, he made about a dozen vials with ck liquid inside them appear on the ground.


    After he did that, he didn''t care about anything else and walked off before quickly disappearing into the darkness.


    Seeing that the heavy and horrible pressure had gone, the huddled figures slowly raised their heads and looked around for the man before their eyes caught the sight of the shiny vials on the ground.


    All of them took a gulp when they realized what he meant by leaving it with them.


    Their bodies felt goosebumps pricking all over them when they remembered the consequences of drinking those vials but then they remembered the consequences of defying the man''s orders.


    With no other choice, they could only move forward and shakingly take a vial each.


    One by one, they stood up and walked away, with a dark looks on their face as they knew that their fate had already been decided.


    *****


    Felix and the others separated and walked toward their respective arenas, which were in different locations.


    ''The Underworld Arena seems a lot different today...''


    While on his way there, he could see that there were many people present in the Arena grounds today. Almost thrice the usual amount of people.


    Everybody was talking with each other with excitement as they couldn''t wait for the uing sh of the battles to start.


    As for how they would be able to know which battles were going to be the ones against the dark guilds?


    That was simple.


    Because today, all the arena battles except for the ones that Felix and the rest were going to participate in were stopped.


    With the involvement of the dark guilds, the forces of the underworld suspected that they would try to make trouble in the whole arena to get an advantage in their battles, so they directly ordered all the arena battles to be suspended temporarily.


    Now, with the whole crowd in the underworld Arena focused on the main battles, the dark guilds wouldn''t be able to do any dirty tricks.


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    While on his way to the arena, Felix felt a person getting suspiciously close to him.


    Turning toward the person''s direction, he was on his guard and was ready to attack if necessary, but when he saw the bald andnky guy, he rxed.


    "You''re Dufus, right?"


    "Yes, Sir Phantom. I''m Dufus.", Dufus said scratching his shiny head.


    Felix nodded and asked.


    "What do you want? If it''s about the schedule paper of my opponents, then don''t bother. You should''ve already heard the news, there won''t be any battles except for me and my teammates, which means you''ll know which battle you should bet on."


    Hearing his words, Dufus sucked a deep breath while widening his eyes in disbelief.


    He had of course heard the news, you could say that nobody in the whole underworld didn''t knew of the fight that was about to take ce.


    Mr.Dealer had taken much consideration in this job and had ordered his subordinates to spread the news as much as possible, as doing that would put the dark guilds in a passive position.


    "W-We knew it! We knew that you would be the one chosen to fight against the dark guilds."


    Dufus and the others knew that Phantom was one of the strongest fighters in the underworld, and with that power, he must have been chosen in the sh against the dark guilds.


    But knowing that, and finding out that it was the truth was different.


    As the biggest supporters of Phantom and the ones who had known him since his first battle, they felt proud to be associated with him.


    Felix didn''t say anything and just gave a small smile at his excited reaction.


    "Well, it''s about time the battle began. I have to go be there."


    Saying so, he nodded at Dufus and continued to walk forward.


    "Good luck, Phantom! We know that you can do it!", Dufus cheered at him from behind and then walked away to his group to tell them about the exciting news.


    On the other hand, Felix studied the first paper in his hand and arrived at the arena to start his first real battle against the dark guilds confidently and openly.


    "Hmm, so my battle will be on Arena No. 3..."


    =====

 Chapter 91: Felix vs Harker.

    On the other side of the arena, a man wearing a tattered robe with tattoos all over his body walked over while pushing the crowd aside aggressively with a dark expression on his face.


    He looked to be angered and tensed at the same time, but he didn''t slow down and continued forward.


    ''That asshole! Who knew he would give us that...''


    Without giving a care for the public''s curses, the man seemed to be in a hurry and irked for some reason.


    ''I have to win, or else I die....''


    Arriving at the location of the arena, he entered the path leading to the stage under the astonished stares of the surrounding people, who now realized that this man was the one who was going to take part in today''s special match.


    When the tattooed man reached the end of the path, he opened the gate of the arena stage and entered inside while narrowing his eyes at the sudden sh of the stage lights.


    "Huffff....."


    The man closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before slowly opening his sharp eyes and seriously locking them on his opponent who stood right before him.


    *****


    Felix, who had already entered the stage under the surprised nces of the audience and was waiting for his opponent, stared at the tattooed man who was standing opposite him while taking out his weapon.


    ''He looks strong.....''


    The tattooed man may look like a dirty homeless beggar wearing torn clothes, but his posture and the look in his eyes were enough to show that he was not that easy to deal with.


    Seeing that both the fighters have been arrived, the referee walked forward tomence the battle.


    "Hello everyone! Today we have a special battle organized by the underworld authorities themselves, so be prepared to witness this epic battle.", the referee shouted towards the crowd.


    "On the left, we have Phantom who represents the underworld!"


    At the mention of his name and his affiliation, the entire crowd went into an upheaval while cheering at him.


    "Wait, I know this Phantom guy, he''s incredibly strong!"


    "Go Go Phantom!!"


    "Kill your opponent, Phantom!"


    "Titled the fastest, Phantom you can do it!"


    "Phantom, we love you!!"


    Felix had to scratch his cheek awkwardly and wave his hand toward the crowd at their enthusiastic support for him.


    He knew that all of these people would turn and start cursing him the moment he lost this battle, so there was that too, but there was no way he was going to lose.


    The referee smiled at the crowd''s outburst and turned to the other fighter to announce the man''s name in a grim voice.


    "And on the right, we have Harker, who represents the dark guilds....."


    The crowd quickly calmed down and remained silent for a few seconds before they started to curse at him.


    "Kill that Harker!!"


    "Harker is a Loser!!"


    "Fuck those dark guilds!!"


    "Phantom, kill that fucker!!"


    It was more chaotic now than when Felix''s name was announced as the crowd cursed the tattooed man, Harker.


    But the man in question didn''t show a reaction at all, as his eyes continued to stare at Felix with a dark expression on his face while taking out his two knife-like weapons.


    From his eyes alone, Felix could see that the man was not in the mood to y around and would fight seriously with the intention of winning.


    Wielding his short sword, Felix ignored the crowd''s disturbance and focused his concentration with the help of his skill Unanimity.


    He also used the skill Parabolic hearing and stopped any noise of his surroundings from disturbing him except for his opponent''s and the referee''s.


    Walking to the middle of the stage, the referee looked at both the fighters once, and seeing that they were ready, he swung the green g to start the battle.


    "Let the battle begin!"


    As soon as the battle began, Harker pushed himself against the ground and dashed toward Felix while raising both his knives.


    Using the skill Agility Burst, Felix turned sideways and dodged the shes, before counterattacking using the ck Horizon sword technique Striking des.


    Both of them shed their weapons in a frenzy while attacking and blocking each other''s strikes.


    The crowd saw swift shes of lights as both the fighters attacked each other rapidly without wasting any time.


    They continued to sh their weapons without actually hurting each other for a few minutes.


    Felix who was feeling a bit exhausted using the Agility Burst skill, used the Sword Technique Assault Impact and pushed his opponent away, who flung all the way to the edge of the stage with a surprised face.


    Taking a deep breath, Felix returned to his fighting stance and this time used the skill Corrosion to cover the baleful energy all over his shortsword.


    Dashing ahead with increased speed from another Agility Burst, heunched himself on Harker and attacked him with Assault Impact before he could respond.


    Thebination of the moves, Corrosion, Agility Burst, and Assault Impact resulted in a strong wind pressure in the direction of the attack as it grazed in the air.


    The shortsword shed towards Hakrer''s chest but at thest moment, two knives instinctively blocked the attack, with the force of the sh pushing Harker to the corner of the stage with his back hitting against the steel-wired wall.


    Felix moved forward and attacked Harker again, who stood up with his expression turning more darker as time went by. check out m-v-l-e-m-p-y-r


    The two of them continued to battle while swinging their weapons, but everyone could see that Felix seemed to have the upper hand in the fight.


    *****


    In the audience.


    Mr.Dealer walked over to Felix''s battle arena after checking up on the others and he could see that as expected, the boy was pushing his opponent.


    "Good.", he muttered under his breath and was about to walk away, when a cold voice called out to him.


    "It looks like you''re quite confident in your fighter, huh."


    Turning at the sudden voice, Dealer found a handsome man wearing a one-eye mask standing behind him with a cold demeanor.


    A bit surprised, he said to the man.


    "Graham, when did youe back from your training?"


    The man named Graham, who had an eye mask covering one of his eyes, with a slender body and long brown hair that reached his shoulders, replied with a serious nod.


    "Just yesterday, I heard about the situation and came back before anything bad happened."


    Mr.Dealer looked at the man who had his one eye concentrated on the battle that was taking ce on the arena stage.


    Just like him, Graham was also one of the members in the council of the underworld.


    He was hailed as one of the strongest man in the Underworld, and was also a battle junky whose only thoughts were fighting, training, and more fighting.


    That was why he was often found deep inside the forests and monster''s territories, always seeking strong opponents to sh with, making his presence and poprity really low in the city.


    Graham stared at the ck-masked figure fighting on the stage and muttered.


    "You''ve found a nice gem, Dealer....."


    With a small smile on his face, Mr.Dealer nodded proudly.


    "Well, what can I say? I have good eyes, I guess."


    Graham turned his one eye and looked at him with a nk face, his expression turning colder.


    "Cough- What I mean is, I was lucky to find him. That boy is also young and has a lot of potential.", Dealer quickly changed the topic with an innocent face.


    Graham continued to stare at Dealer''s face for a few seconds and then turned back to the stage while narrowing his eyes.


    "It''s good that the boy has potential, but the one he''s going against is from the dark guilds, and they''re known for their dirty tricks."


    Dealer nodded at his words and then replied with a serious look on his face.


    "He''ll do fine. Mr.Estrada had specially cleansed him and the others, so they must be stronger now."


    His words gained Graham''s surprise as the man looked fervently at the ck-masked boy with growing interest.


    Both of them continued to watch the battle as they could see that the match was about to end.


    *****


    On the Arena stage.


    Felix dodged another strike and kicked his opponent''s stomach before retreating back from the kick''s force.


    As he was getting exhausted from using Agility Burst too many times, he decided to end the battle and dashed forward using the skill again onest time.


    Arriving in front of Harker, he first swung his shortsword while using the Assault Impact, and pushed him back but Harker, who had gotten used to those attacks stabilized himself.


    But before he could counterattack, Felix used another Agility Burst and attacked at the red line appearing on Hakrer''s chest using the skill ratio technique.


    Blood gushed out from Hakrer''s chest and a long wound could be seen on his upper body. Felix delivered another kick on his wounded chest and pushed the man away to the edge of the stage.


    The crowd cheered out loud at the sudden turn of events as Felix slowly moved forward, towards his fallen opponent.


    Harker, who was lying on the ground stared at the dark ceiling of the underworld with an unwilling expression.


    ''Am I going to lose? Will I die....''


    His eyes showed intense emotions of frustration and helplessness, but atst, he gritted his teeth and twisted his face looking like a crazy psycho.


    ''This is the only choice....''


    Swiftly getting up from his lying position, Harker took out a vial from his robe and quickly removed the cork before drinking the ck liquid inside.


    Felix raised his eyebrows at the man''s actions and prepared himself for what was about toe.


    ''What''s that? Drugs?''


    His thoughts were interrupted when a demonic roar escaped from Hakrer''s mouth.


    The tattooed man''s skin started to change in color, from tan to light purple, and then purple to ck, and then atst returned back to tan as he was before.


    But everyone could see that the man standing on the stage was not Harker anymore, as he had a more muscr body that was healed and hadpletely ck eyes with saliva leaking from his mouth.


    The sudden monstrous change in him terrified the surrounding crowd making everyone take a step back.


    They could feel from far away an evil energy wafting off of him, which made their skins crawl.


    Even Mr.Dealer and Graham looked shocked at the drastic change that was taking ce on the stage and were ready to interfere if things went south.


    Meanwhile Felix, who was standing just a few meters away from his new opponent gulped with a strange expression while taking a few step back.


    "Umm.....this wasn''t supposed to happen,....right?"

 Chapter 92: Last Shot.

    On the stage.


    Felix looked bergasted at the suddenchange in his opponent.


    "ROAARRR!!"


    The tattooed man who was just mere moments away from getting defeated by him, healed himself and got even stronger than he was after drinking something from a vial.


    The referee who was standing at the edge of the stage frowned and thought whether he should interfere ot not.


    But then his eyes moved towards the arena audience where he felt a strong presence, and noticed a man wearing an one eye mask giving him an assured look.


    ''T-That''s Sir Graham!'', thought the referee with surprised wide eyes and gave a subtle yet respectful nod towards the man.


    Now that a person from the council of the underworld had given him instructions, the referee decided not to do anything and just watched how the battle went on.


    But the crowd were frantic with their reactions.


    "W-What was that? Is that person a monster!?"


    "Look at him! He suddenly got stronger."


    "Holy Shit! That scared me!" Find adventures on NovelFire-mp,yr.


    "I fucking knew it! The dark guilds would definitely use underhanded means in a battle."


    Their thoughts were all the same, questioning what was going on, on the stage.


    Meanwhile, Mr.Dealer and Graham were talking in small voices.


    "It''s that right?", Graham asked curiously while narrowing his only eye.


    Giving a nod at his question, Mr.Dealer replied with a pensive look on his face. "Yes,....it''s the dark guild''s signature yet low-quality potion, Last Shot...."


    Mr.Dealer then looked at Felix with worry and muttered, "Even though the change is small, will he be able to handle him?"


    Graham raised his eyebrow and joked.


    "What are you? His mother? Let the boy fight, if he''s in trouble, then I''ll y myst shot and save him before he dies."


    His words brought relief to Mr.Dealer, and he sighed thinking he was starting to get emotional thesest few days.


    Maybe it was because he knew the real identity of the boy, and the guild behind him, whom he couldn''t afford to make trouble with.


    *****


    The moment Harker-monster stopped its loud roar, its eyes scanned the surroundings and met with Felix''s red eyes that looked especially confusing right now.


    ''Dude, what the hell happened to you!!?"


    Then without wasting any time, the monster threw itself upon him with a crazy look on its face.


    Felix was met with a flying punch that didn''t have much uracy, but power that was three times more than that of the man''s previous strength.


    Swiftly dodging the attack, Felix used an Assault Impact and managed to barely push the monster away a few meters, before retreating and taking a serious look at his opponent.


    After taking the potion, Last Shot, Harker wasn''t Harker anymore. It could be said that his consciousness was already half dead  and the body that was moving and throwing punches right now was nothing more than an empty shell.


    But that didn''t mean it was easy to deal with,  as even though it didn''t have an intelligent brain to think of during the fight, it''s battle instincts were still there, but that too turned more beastly and agressive which basically used hundred percent of its power in every move.


    ''There''s no point in wasting time thinking about what''s happening. All I gotta do is defeat him as soon as I can, and then I''ll have my answers.''


    Shaking away all the unnecessary thoughts, Felix focused on Equanimity skill, and concentrated on the movements of his opponent.


    It wasplicated.


    The monster didn''t follow a certain rythm of moving or walking, and instead did absolutely random things like gawking at the ceiling absentmindedly for a few seconds and then snorting before acting like waking up from deep sleep and looking around aimlessly.


    Yet, Felix could feel that the moment he took a step forward or backward or anywhere, then the monster would return to its beast mode and jump on him.


    Taking it as an opportunity, Felix rxed for a few seconds and started contentrating on his next attack move.


    He was going to try the first technique of his Sword Arts, the Singr sh.


    Eventhough it was only the first technique of his ck Horizon Sword Arts, it shouldn''t be forgotten that it was the same technique that basically sliced through the body of Rank 2 goblin, though it was of the mage type with a weak body.


    Now, the monster''s strength had temporarily passed Rank 1, though itcked the intelligence of one.


    A few secondster, he was ready.


    With his concentration at its highest, adding that to the Corrosion skill that enveloped baleful energy through his shortsword, and the red line of weakness appearing on the monster''s body, Felix forcibly pushed himself against the ground by using Agility Burst.


    There was a sudden sh on the arena stage, and before anybody knew what was going on, except for a few, they saw Phantom moving across from his position all the way to the monster''s arm''s reach within a mere second.


    A fast de that glowed purple due to the power of corrosion, shed horizontally toward the monster''s neck, which had a red weakness point.


    Even though Felix was moving so fast that seemed unbelievable for a zero rank warrior, the monster who was acting like a fool all this time suddenly turned in a swift manner and defended itself using it''s arms.


    Seeing the movement of his opponent which would block his iing attack, Felix changed the direction of his sword and bent it towards another red line that had appeared on it''s chest.


    The change of the movement by his shortsword which was using the Singr sh technique, lowered the overall strength of the sh, but it was enough for it to cause harm.


    "Schkweek!"


    His shortsword shed deeply into the monster''s chest, making almost half of the sword impaled within it''s body.


    The crowd''s cheering died down as they waited with bated breaths to witness the result of the sh.


    Felix, who was standing while still gripping his sword had a slight smile at the corner of his mouth seeing that his opponent was out, but a few secondster his eyes went wide in terror when he heard the sound of wind.


    A powerful punchnded directly on Felix''s stomach, making him spurt out blood from his mouth as he flew through the air and crashed onto the ground like a ragdoll.


    "ROAAR!!"


    The crowd gasped at the sudden turn of events.


    They could still see a sword pierced into the monster''s chest, who was showing no signs of pain, and then there was Felix who had sessfully hit his opponent yet failed to inflict any damage and instead could only fall back helplessly.


    "Ughh...how did it not die...."


    Felix stood up while clutching his stomach and wiped the blood near his mouth.


    He could not understand how the monster was able to fight like normal when a sword was impaled deep into its body.


    "Shit. If this continues, then...."


    Taking a deep breath, Felix stared at his shortsword which was still ced inside the monster''s body, giving him no weapon to fight with.


    Left with no other choice, he took a boxing stance and waited for the monster to attack him.


    ''There''s only one option left.''


    Uncaring of the extra piece of metal protruding from its chest, the monster ran forward andunched a punch.


    Felix could barely dodge the punch as it slightly grazed him, pushing him a few steps back.


    The next moment, Felix quickly activated his skill Agility Burst and pushed himself toward the monster''s body, before tightly clutching his shortsword.


    ''Corrosion!''


    Holding his weapon tightly, he used his skill and sent out baleful energy through his weapon into the monster''s body.


    The already messed up insides of Harker''s body who had taken the Last Shot potion wasn''t in a best condition at the moment, and the infusion of the corrosive power made it more damaged.


    The monster who was about to sent out another powerful punch suddenly stopped as it''s eyes widened in pain, it opened its mouth and let out a painful shriek.


    "GRAAAHHH!!"


    Seeing that his idea was proving it right, Felix gritted his teeth and tried to emit as much of the baleful energy he could possibly let out.


    ''Just die already!!''


    With it''s body overwhelmed with corrosive power, the monster''sst instincts got activated, and it tried getting away.


    But Felix who had seen thising didn''t let it go as he twisted his body like a snake and wrapped around the monster''s body to not let it escape his grasp.


    The monster thrashed around on the stage in anger, hitting Felix all over but he didn''t let go no matter what and continued pouring out the baleful energy.


    After some time, the monster couldn''t hold any longer and it''s body starting to convulse, before letting out onest roar and then falling on the ground lifeless.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]


    Felix finally let go of the monster''s body andy on the ground beside itpletely exhausted.


    "Huff...hufff...huff..."


    He took deep breathes and thought about the battle he fought just now.


    Unlike before where both the fighters were using their weapons and battling each other carefully, this battle was more like who would be thest one to survive.


    ''That was insane, but atleast I got some skill points from it....''


    On the other hand, the crowd was surprisingly silent.


    All of them had strange looks on their faces, showing emotions like confusion, fear and surprise.


    Felix was in a serious fight, so he didn''t have the time to think properly and analyse what was happening right now with the matter of a fighter taking drug like potions to strengthen themselves.


    It was against the rules of the underworld arena for a fighter to take any supplement potions before or during the battle which would have a direct connection with their power grade used in the battle.


    Now that a member of the dark guilds had openly taken the Last Shot potion without any care infront of the whole audience, it only meant that the dark guilds had no ns of ying this game anymore.


    Mr.Dealer and Graham in the crowd looked at each other and nodded with serious faces, thinking that it was time for the real game to begin.

 Chapter 93: Bountiful Reward.

    With both Harker''s and Felix''s bodies on the ground, one dead and one alive, the referee woke up from his trance and shouted out loud announcing the winner while swinging down the red g.


    "The battle ends! And the winner is....Phantom!!"


    At once, all of the people in the crowd started cheering regardless of the hidden trouble that awaited them, as the man on the stage had shown them that it was possible to win against someone stronger than yourselves.


    "Phantom! Phantom! Phantom!"


    They cheered his name altogether, giving him praises and apuse.


    Felix slowly got up from the ground and faced the crowd, twisting his body as it hurt him a bit from all the thrashing.


    "Ah well, it was worth it I guess..."


    He awkwardly waved his hand at the crowd, making them more enthusiastic with their cheering, especially a certain group of men led by a fat man and anky baldie.


    "See!! I told you he''ll win the match for sure!!"


    Eximed the bald man while jumping around the ce.


    The fat man snorted and replied with a smile.


    "And when did I deny?"


    The other men were also busy cheering out ''Phantom'', raising their voice among the crowd, who gave them weird looks.


    On the other hand, Felix walked down the stage toward a secret path that led him away from the crowd where two men were waiting for him.


    "Oh Mr.Dealer..."


    The man walked over with a smile and patted Felix on his shoulder.


    "Good work there. I''ll tell you about the detailster, but before thate here I''ll introduce you to someone."


    Felix nodded as Mr.Dealer pulled him toward the side where a man with an one eye mask stood with a stoic expression.


    Maybe it was because Felix hadn''t experienced meeting many strong people in this world, because the moment heid his eyes on the man, he could tell that the man was one of the strongest.


    Mr.Dealer started.


    "This is Sir Graham, a member in the council of the Underworld, just like me. And it looks like he has some interest in you."


    Mr.Dealer winked towards Graham and gave them some space, wondering what his friend would say.


    Felix looked carefully at the brown haired man and got a feeling that both of them were a bit simr, though he was confused as to why the man was interested in him.


    "Nice to meet you, Sir Graham. My name is Phantom."


    Graham gave a soft nod with his one eye looking intensely at him and replied.


    "Phantom, it seems like you''ve quite the liking to battles from what I''ve seen."


    Felix wondered what the man wanted as he simply nodded.


    "Therefore, why don''t youe under me and we can explore all the forests of this kingdom, battling all the strong monsters that it has to offer!", his personality suddenly changed from stoic to wild, as the man let out a strong aura of a hunter looking for prey.


    Felix widened his eyes at the man''s offer, but Mr.Dealer''s reaction was more intense as he quickly jumped between them.


    "Wait wait wait!! What the hell Graham?", Mr.Dealer ced Felix behind him and shouted at the one eyed man.


    "You asked me to let the two of you meet because you wanted to steal him away from me!!? You can''t be serious, man!"


    He hissed at Graham like a lion protecting it''s cub.


    Graham scratched his head with a casual expression on his face.


    "Come on, Dealer. Dont be so possessive. Look at the boy, he seems to be grinning after hearing my proposal."


    Mr.Dealer swiftly turned around in disbelief but failed to catch Felix who had a slight smile on his face which he reced with an innocent look.


    "Is he saying the truth? Do you want to leave the great me and work for him now?", Mr.Dealer asked with both his hands on Felix''s shoulders.


    Overwhelmed with all the drama and the intense battle he had just a few moments ago, Felix let out a silent sigh and said.


    "No no, of course I wouldn''t do that. You have been so good to me, and there''s still so many things we have to do."


    Mr.Dealer nodded with a satisfied face, and turned to snort at his friend.


    "Well Graham, there you have it. It seems he has no interest in following you in your little pic."


    Graham couldn''t do anything as he shrugged but said as ast option.


    "Then it''s fine. But if you ever want something exciting away from this boring ce, then you can look for me, Phantom."


    Felix couldn''t help but give the man a deep look and nodded slightly.


    It would be a lie if he said he wasn''t interested in doing just that.


    Last time he went out of Edenmont city in the name ofpleting a simple mission, he had experienced quite a good time with the harvesting of skill points from a lot of monsters.


    But he couldn''t do that again as the guild won''t allow members from rank below one to explore the forest outside the city unless they had some survival skills with themselves.


    And thest time was an exception by Miss Elsa who decided to give him a chance seeing how he had handled the goons from the enemy guild.


    But after hearing that he had gone against the guild protocol and ventured deep into the forest without their permission, she had denied him from going out of the city again, unless he reached Rank 1, that is.


    Even though Graham''s offer was enticing for him, there were other things he had to do at the moment and many answers he had to find regarding the situation.


    Walking closer to Mr.Dealer, Graham whispered a few words before turning around and walking away.


    "Goodbye, I hope you''ll grow stronger the next time we meet, Phantom."


    Seeing the man walk away, Mr.Dealer turned back to his usual attitude and guided Felix away from the ce.


    "Let''s go. We have to check upon the others, maybe they''re already back at the base."


    They started walking away from the Arena 3 and moved towards the secret exit of the Arena grounds.


    Some timeter they arrived at Mr.Dealer''s base and entered inside to find the others already inside.


    From their figures, Berd and Crystal looked fine without much injures, only a bit of dirt around their clothes, but Falcon seemed to have gotten in quite some trouble as he was bleeding from many parts of his body.


    As both the group met each other, Mr.Dealer waved his hand and gave all the four a potion with blue liquid inside, and stated with a serious look on his face.


    "Drink this to heal your wounds, and then we''ll talk."


    The four of them followed his orders and quickly drank the potion which slowly healed their weak bodies and refreshed them of all fatigue.


    After they were done, he started talking.


    "I''m sure the opponents of the three of you also used the supplement called the Last Shot to strengthen themselves from how your states are."


    The three nodded as the grey robed figue neared to Mr.Dealer and ounted about the matter briefly.


    "The same happened with Phantom too.", he frowned and continued, "Now that they''ve done something this outrageous, the dark guilds have no reason to continue this farce. That means you guys won''t have to continue battling their goons any longer."


    The four of them showed disappointed yet relieved faces as they contemted about the matter.


    "Don''t worry. You''ll be properlypensated for the mishap of this time. Also, you''ll be treated as vip guests of the underworld whenever you visit here."


    Mr.Dealer had a small smile on his face as he concluded.


    "Now that everything''s done, why don''t we talk about the rewards you''ll be receiving."


    That brought gleeful smiles on everyone''s faces as they perked up for the bountiful rewards.


    Mr.Dealer nodded at the grey robed person who vanished inside into a room of the base and returned back with a case.


    He opened the case and stood beside Mr Dealer showing the insides of it to the four.


    There were four strange yet beautiful looking ckish gold cards ced inside the case, which emitted a sense of mystery and danger to whoever put their eyes on it.


    The four of them took a gulp at the sight of the card, and prasied it''s design within their hearts.


    Mr.Dealer looked pleased with their reactions and coughed once to pull them back.


    "Cough-. I present to you the most sought after exclusive status card in the underworld.", he announced which made the four of theirs eyes glitter and continued on.


    "Among the cards circted inside the underworld for transactions and requirements, these belongs to special people only and amounts to a mere hundred."


    "You can store as much as money you want in it, which belongs to your personal ount in the underworld, and you can also withdraw any amount at any time. It will also get you a discount of fifty percent at every shop in the ck market, including the cksmiths and the alchemists if you show the card to them."


    "This card also allows you ess the various facilities in the underworld like the Forbidden Library, Training Hall, Secret Emporium etc."


    His words made the four widen their eyes in astonishment, as the rewards were too generous, but it wasn''t the end yet.


    "As for the mary rewards from all the battles, theye down to a total of 230,000 tahl which have been already added into this card."


    The amount made the four bergasted, especially Felix who took a deep breath to prevent himself from shouting.


    ''I''m rich! I''m rich!''


    The average sry of a man in Edenmont city was around 5k to 10k a month, and for him to get more than 200k in a single week showed that high risk gave high reward.


    Mr.Dealer grabbed the cards from the case and gave the four of them one each.


    Later, he waved his hands and materialised four purple vials of potion and four red vials of potion.


    "And atst, this purple vial is the potion which will release the limiters ced on you.


    While this red vial is a rare potion which can help you advance to the first rank."


    Everyone stopped checking out their new cards and ced their shining eyes on the red vial, bringing a smile on Mr.Dealer''s face.


    "This wasn''t supposed to be in the list of rewards, but you could consider it as apensation for today''s dangerous situation we ced you in."


    Walking towards them, he ced two vials each on their hands and walked back to the front while putting on a serious face.


    "The matter with the dark guilds will keep on going bad from now on, which will expose you guys to danger if you wish to participate in it. And for you survive all this, you''ll have to grow strong, that is the only way you can expect to live in this world. So I hope that you can advance to the first rank as fast as you can."


    His words trailed off as he put on a mischievous smile and said.


    "Or else you won''t be able to have any fun in the uing upheavel."


    Felix scratched his cheek, wondering whether this guy was manipting everyone into fights or what, as he seemed to be the most excited for what was about toe.


    Meanwhile, nobody knew what was actually going on inside Mr.Dealer''s mind.


    ''Hehehehe just wait you fuckers.....nobody''s going to save you all from me...''

 Chapter 94: A Bet.

    After receiving their rewards, Felix and others kept them inside their pockets carefully and looked around the room of the base.


    Mr.Dealer slightly smiled and responded to them.


    "It''ll be a temporary goodbye for now, but I''ll be waiting for you guys until you''ve finally advanced to the first rank. And then, we''ll be having more deals between using up in the future."


    His words made them smile as they all nodded looking at each other.


    The time they spent together was short, and they''ve also not talked much with each other, but fighting against the same enemy always brought people closer, just like them.


    Falcon looked at the other three and said.


    "Well, it''s nothing much, but if you ever want someone to show you around in the underground, then you can count on me.", he said at the three as he was the most experienced with this ce.


    The three nodded at him, thinking it would be good to take a good look around the underworld as even they hadn''t gone to those facilities like the forbidded library or such.


    Mr.Dealer looked at his pocket watch and whispered something to the grey robed man before bidding them bye.


    "Alright guys, I''ll be leaving now. I have some work to do."


    He gave them ast nod and walked out of the building before disappearing into the streets.


    The four of them also didn''t have any work left here, and infact couldn''t wait to go home and start cultivating.


    So they bid each other goodbye and left the base one by one before moving away from there.


    *****


    Felix arrived back at the guild and quietly entered his room without alerting anyone.


    After taking a quick shower, he took out the limit removing potion and drank it within seconds.


    A few minutester when he hadpletely absorbed the potion, he started to meditate with a focused mind.


    After a few hours, he stopped when he had reached the peak of concentration with a rxed mind and body.


    Taking out the red vial potion which glowed in the dark room, he swirled it around.


    "Should I advance to the first rank right now? Or should I not?"


    He pondered as he recalled that he can only obtain skill points from killing being higher than his own rank.


    So if he advanced, then he won''t gain skill points from killing Rank 1 beings.


    "But then again, even if I want to kill Rank 1 beings, the guild wouldn''t allow me to go out of the city..."


    As he wondered what to do of his situation, he remembered the time when he hade across the circus like ce back in some deserted area of the city, when he had gotten lost on his first mission.


    "I wonder if there''s more ces like that inside the city."


    His mind drifted in thoughts about several things as time slowly went by.


    "Knock Knock!", suddenly there was a sound at the door which jolted him out of his thoughts.


    Raising up from the floor, he walked to the door and asked.


    "Who''s there?", there was no way he was going to open the door without knowing who it was.


    "Open up Felix! It''s me!"


    Felix heard a sound from outside, and if he didn''t recognise the voice, he wouldn''t know who was ''me''.


    Opening the door, he saw a boy with bright eyes and dark green hair smiling at him enthusiastically.


    "What took you so long? Were you doing something naughty?", the boy asked suspiciously while moving his clenched right hand up and down.


    Felix gave Steve a nk stare before closing the door right on his face.


    "Bam!"


    The door hit the boy on his nose as he rubbed it painfully, before knocking on the door pitifully.


    "I''m sorry Felix, I was just kidding! Please open the door."


    This time around, Felix took his time as he slowly cleaned and sorted the room, then opened the door a few minutester.


    "Come on, you''re no fun Felix....", muttered Steve as he entered into the room with a sightly red nose.


    As he took a seat, Felix asked him curiously.


    "So, what''s the asion?"


    Steve appeared hurt as he looked at Felix with a sad face.


    "Should there be a reason for me toe see you? Aren''t we friends??", he sounded really tragic like he had lost his....no, actually he looked pretty stupid to Felix right now.


    With a sigh, Felix scratched his head and said.


    "Haa, of course you cane here whenever you want. But I just wondered if there was a special reason to it."


    Steve happily smiled at that and replied.


    "Nothing special. It''s just that I came back from a long and boring mission, and the moment we arrived here, Roven went to sleep while Eric locked himself inside his room, not responding to me."


    He said with a sigh, as his teammates weren''t the most energetic ones, while he was someone who couldn''t sit in one ce.


    Steve then smiled and pointed at Felix.


    "And that''s when I remembered my pupil, you."


    Felix raised an eyebrow hearing that and questioned in confusion.


    "Pupil? When did I be your pupil?"


    Steve shrugged and replied.


    "Well, I thought you many things and also trained you, so that makes you my pupil, and I am your master."


    Felix nodded at that and suddenly had an idea as he smiled evilly.


    "I don''t think that''s possible. How can a pupil have a master who''s weaker than himself?"


    Steve widened his eyes and stood up from the chair while pointing at Felix.


    "Y-You!! What do you mean by that!? Me? Weaker than you? That''s not possible!"


    Felix too stood up as he shrugged nonchntly.


    "Well, why don''t I prove it to you at the training hall then?"


    Steve bit his lips with a thoughtful look before his eyes lit up.


    "Fight? Yeah sure, lets go right now!"


    He didn''t wait for Felix as he dashed out of the room to bring his weapon and equipment.


    Felix also changed into a suitablebat outfit and took his weapon before walking out of the room.


    He saw that Steve was already ready with a perked up look, standing beside the stairs that led to the upper floor.


    They together ascended the stairs like they were going for war and entered a training room.


    Both of them remained silent on the way as one wanted himself to be the master, while the other wanted to prove him wrong.


    It was silly, but they weren''t going to go easy on each other as they wanted to prove their strength.


    "If you lose, you''ll have to call me Sir Steve from now on.", Steve said with a confident face as he already imagined the boy calling him by ''sir''.


    Felix smiled and responded on his part of the sudden bet.


    "And if you lose, you''ll have to answer my every question for today."


    There were many things he was still unaware of this world, and he thought of using this opportunity to get his answers.


    "Deal.", Steve agreed without breaking a sweat as he didn''t even give his request a thought.


    As a chatterbox, it was his specialty to talk without getting tired, and answering some questions was as easy as breathing for him.


    "Oh wait-" Steve suddenly raised his hand and said with a troubled look.


    "You can''t ask me questions like Miss Elsa''s three sizes okay. That would put me in troub-"


    He couldn''t end his sentence as a shortsword came flying through the air at a speed that made his heart beat faster.


    ''Are you serious!!'', Steve shouted inside his mind at the sheer speed and power that was packed into that attack.


    He quickly used everything in his power to block the power, but the attack was still too powerful for him as he was pushed back several steps.


    Widening his eyes, Steve was about to shout ''what the fuck was that!'', but he saw that Felix was already within his arm''s reach with his sword shing at him.


    Getting focused, Steve narrowed his eyes and started taking the duel more seriously.


    *****


    A few hourster.


    Steve was found lying at the corner of the room with a beat up body and unfocused eyes.


    He looked absentmindedly at the ceiling while muttering unbelievably.


    "H-How is this possible....Did I just l-lose to my pupil?"


    Felix who was standing on the other side with a tired and bruised body looked slightly guilty.


    ''Did I went too far?''


    His experience in the underworld had turned him from an amateur to a skilled swordsman within a few days, as instead of just training by swinging his sword, he was fighting with his life on the line there.


    Walking toward Steve, Felix squatted down and tapped on his body.


    "Hey, wake up and let''s go to my room. You''ve got to answer my questions now."


    Steve was still under depression with his quick defeat as he muttered slowly with a lost look in his eyes.


    "No.....I won''t tell you Miss Elsa''s three sizes....."


    Felix rubbed his forehead with a sigh and left the guy on his own, as he knew he would recover from the depression soon ande knocking on his door after some time.


    Instead, he started thinking about the various information he should get out from the chatterbox''s mouth.


    ''Hmm...What should I ask...''

 Chapter 95: New Team.

    Felix returned back to his room after the mock battle, leaving Steve who was contemting his choice of life in the training room.


    After taking a quick shower, Felix put on some clothes, sat down near the window, and started cultivating in silence.


    He would always choose to think of using the Unanimity Skill while cultivating, which greatly increases his focus and mind to be at the peak of concentration.


    The skill proved to be a lot useful as he had five times more efficiency at cultivating now than before he had the skill.


    While Felix was busy meditating until he reached the limit of the Zero Rank, Steve had already changed and was standing outside the room''s door with a slightly frowning expression.


    He sighed and shook his head, before knocking on the door.


    A few secondster, Felix opened the door and raised his eyebrows with a surprised look.


    "Oh, you''re back already? Come on in."


    Steve entered inside and took a seat, his arms folded as he looked at Felix with a deep look on his face.


    Looking at Steve, Felix was confused about what was going on with him.


    "So tell me, Felix. How did you be so strong?"


    Felix nodded knowingly, as now he knew what was going on in the boy''s mind.


    "Well, you know how the usual. I trained really hard till my muscles ached, and it seems I''ve got a knack for fighting as well."


    Steve rolled his eyes with a self-mocking smile.


    "If people got so strong by just training, then the entire world would be filled with experts.", Steve narrowed his eyes and continued.


    "I came here to answer your questions as part of the bet, but I''ll do that, only if you answer this one question honestly."


    Felix stared at him for a few seconds in silence and then sighed as he decided to give the boy a satisfactory answer.


    "Alright, I''ll be honest with you.", giving a light cough, Felix revealed.


    "You remember when we went to the Underworld Arena? Truth is, after that time, I asionally went there and joined Mr.Dealer''s team in some battles, which greatly rewarded me with plenty of resources and experience."


    Steve suddenly stood up from his seat with a surprised face as he heard the boy reveal what seemed like a dangerous tale in a casual tone.


    "Wait! You mean to say you went to the Underworld all alone and participated in lots of battles?"


    Felix nodded his head matter-of-factly.


    Seeing the boy nod without any change in his expression, Steve''s face turned chaotic as he scratched his head in a frenzy.


    "Are you fucking serious?? That''s the Underworld for God''s sake. What would I say to Miss Elsa if something had happened to you!!? She woulde to know it was me who told you about it, and then I''ll be held responsible, which means receiving her deathly punishment!!"


    Steve shouted everything in one sentence and then took deep gulps of breath in exhaustion.


    Felix was surprised at the beginning when the boy shouted, a bit touched as the boy seemed to care about him, but then twitched his lips realizing Steve was just scared of Miss Elsa''s ''punishment''.


    "You don''t have to worry Steve, it wasn''t too dangerous as Mr.Dealer was by my side. Also, if I always stay behind everyone, then how would I be able to fight in the uing guild war."


    Felix tried to reason with him, but Steve still wasn''t convinced as he responded.


    "That doesn''t mean you''d have to go and partake in some dangerous underworld battles."


    Felix shook his head, thinking of a sudden n in his head, and replied with a shrug.


    "Then what am I supposed to do? Stay in the room and meditate? I''m not some hermit to do that. And it''s also so boring to always stay inside the building!"


    Steve shut up as he couldn''t counter that.


    As someone who was full of energy and always ready for some action, he too didn''t like staying all cooped up in one ce and he could somehow understand what Felix was saying.


    Seeing the boy getting silent at his words, Felix raised his brow and continued to push him.


    "Now you understand? Even I feel like going out on adventures and having some battles here and there instead of just staying inside my room. And with my situation, I can''t even go do missions, and that left me with no other option than going to the Underworld to experience many battles."


    Steve nodded as he could slowly understand and feel what Felix was going through.


    Hell, it was the same as what he had gone through a few years back.


    Felix decided it was enough drama and thought to hit thest nail.


    "Steve, why are you so quiet? Aren''t you going to say something? Or help me in any way to be stronger?"


    Perking up at the call, Steve scratched his head frustratingly with a confused face.


    "Emm what am I supposed to do?"


    Felix remained quiet and just stared deep into Steve''s eyes with a serious look.


    Steve got nervous from the stare as he turned away and looked around the room while tapping his feet on the ground.


    Seeing that Steve wasn''t responding anymore, Felix sighed and decided toy out his n carefully.


    "Steve, if I can''t go to the underworld battles, then there''s something else that I can do instead of it."


    Turning back to Felix, Steve asked with a curious face.


    "And what''s that?"


    Taking a deep breath, Felix replied matter-of-factly.


    "I can go do missions with you."


    Steve seemed to zone out for a few seconds before he jumped up from his seat and reacted out loud.


    "Right! How could I forget it?! I''ve been wanting to invite you to our team for a while now, it''s great that you reminded me of it."


    Looking at the excited boy who had forgotten something so important, Felix could only facepalm himself.


    "So Felix, how about it? Do you want to join our team and go out there to do some missions?", Steve asked with a hopeful face.


    Felix gave a small smile thinking his n finally worked out somehow in the end and replied.


    "Well if you''re the one asking me, then how can I refuse such an offer...."


    Seeing the boy agree, Steve smiled and moved forward, giving his hand to him.


    "Wee to the team, Felix."


    Felix looked at the hand and raised his own, before giving a firm handshake, which brought a huge smile on both of their faces.


    ''Sigh, thank god Steve is so stupid.....''


    After joining their team, Steve seemed to be in high spirits as he said.


    "Let''s go! We''ll register you in our team right now with the guild, and then we''ll goplete a mission quickly."


    As much as Felix wanted to go and do so, there was something else that they were going to do right now, so he called out to the green-haired boy.


    "Wait, don''t you think you''re forgetting something?"


    Steve looked back from near the door and asked in confusion.


    "Huh? What do you mean?"


    Felix shook his head speechlessly and replied with a sigh.


    "The bet, Steve, the bet..."


    With a tilted head, Steve widened his eyes a bit and pped his hands.


    "Oh yeah. You''re going to ask some questions right? Come on then.", saying so, he sat back on the seat and looked curiously at Felix for the questions.


    Taking a deep breath, Felix used his mind and thought of the many things he wanted to know.


    After that, he started throwing his questions at Steve, who enthusiastically answered all of them to help his new teammate get used to everything.


    Of course with the help of Parabolic Hearing skill.


    Slowly, Felix got to know more information about this city as well as this world.


    His eyes slowly widened in surprise and amazement as he heard some truly astonishing information from the boy''s mouth.


    Before the guild wars, he had wanted to get as much knowledge about the situation as possible, and with his new teammate Steve, he didn''t leave any of his doubt behind.


    As Steve continued to rant about everything useful and useless, Felix was deep in thought while processing all the knowledge he had gotten right now.

 Chapter 96: This World.

    Felix and Steve spent the next few hours in the room talking and discussing; they also went to the dining hall and had dinner before returning back to the room to continue.


    Once Steve had finished answering all the questions, he left Felix alone in the room saying he had some work to do with him joining their team.


    Sitting on the chair while looking out the window at the setting sun, Felix closed his eyes and processed all the new information.


    ''That was too much to remember....''


    As he had asked more than a few hundred questions in one take, Felix was feeling more than just exhausted as his mind was getting a bit heavy.


    But the details of the information were of more importance andplicated which brought a great headache to him.


    ''Sigh.....Is this for real? More than 20 continents in this ngar world??''


    You''re right, there were more than twenty continents on this named ngar, and that''sing from what Steve knew currently.


    The map of this world would look like drawing two perpendicr lines to each other, and then tilting it at an angle of 45 degrees, making a X-like division on the map.


    Which divided the World''s map into the Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Seas.


    Each of the four Seas had several continents, some small like inds and some enormous that were a hundred timesrger.


    The country that Felix was currently residing in, the Drakovia Kingdom, was one of the many countries in the continent of Trevol, which was a fairlyrge continent in the Western Seas.


    As Felix got to know about the enormous geographical size of this world, he decided it wouldn''t benefit him much to know everything at once, and instead, it would be good if he just concentrated on the information of the Drakovia Kingdom they were in.


    So he didn''t ask Steve more questions about the rest of the Kingdoms, Continents, or the Seas, and instead focused on what the boy knew of this kingdom at least.


    Located on the westernmost part of the Trevol continent, the Drakovia Kingdom which the Draken Royal Family ruled, had Nine Great Cities including the Royal Capital Drakov where the majority of the poption resided.


    Edenmont City was also one of them and was governed by the Ryeagon Duke Family, including several other nearby towns and viges.


    In Edenmont City, there were approximately 24 guilds, with 10 of the top ones wielding significant power and authority, presiding over the Guild Council.


    In the uing Guild war, two of the four enemy guilds that their guild would face were from the Top 10 guilds.


    The guild leader of the Twilight Chaos guild, along with the guild leader of a friendly guild were the ones who dered war on the four enemy guilds, with the approval from the head of the Ryeagen Duke Family.


    The Twilight Chaos guild was ranked at the 5th, while the friendly guild named the Mystic Society Guild, was ranked at the top 3rd in the guild rankings.


    Meanwhile, from the enemy guilds, there was the Crimson Dawn Guild ranked at the top 2nd, and the other was the Fanged Legion which was ranked at the 7th.


    The other two enemy guilds which were of not much significance were called the Mad Wolves Guild and the Grey Talons Guild.


    Felix took a deep breath and rubbed his forehead a bit from all the sudden information.


    "There''s no point in thinking about the other kingdoms and continents, what I need now is to focus on getting myself stronger and advance to the first rank."


    He said to himself while looking out the window at the dark sky; wondering to himself how he had arrived to this world named ngar.


    "This world seems to be a lot bigger than Earth, almost about a dozen times. And there seem to be many other races living here too...."


    Even though Felix wanted to clear his mind of all the random thoughts and meditate, he couldn''t stop thinking about the fantasy world he learned about today.


    Lost in his thoughts, he eventually got up from the chair and moved to bed, before gradually falling into a deep sleep.


    That night, he dreamt of traveling all over this ngar World, rescuing many beautiful girls and defeating lots of strong monsters.


    It was such a nice dream that he had a smile on his face the whole night while sleeping peacefully.


    *****


    A few hundred miles away from the Edenmont City.


    Deep inside the dark forest, there was a hidden makeshift tent with lots of traps around it.


    A man wearing a ck dusty robe and a hat walked out from the forest and approached the tent.


    He raised his hand, where a ring glowed dangerously before turning off.


    Continuing his steps, the man entered the tent without activating any traps.


    Inside the tent, there were two guards wearing masks and dark robes that covered their entire body.


    The guards saluted the hatted man, who gave them a quick nod and walked past them, reaching a small space with stairs that led downstairs beneath the surface of the ground.


    The man started descending the stairs, and after a few minutes arrived at arge hall with many people hurrying about doing their tasks.


    The man ignored everyone even though they greeted him with respect and fear, and walked deeper inside thebyrinth-like hall before he came across a secret room guarded by a dozen strong men.


    He showed them his ring which again gave off a red glow, to which they moved aside and opened the door of the secret room for the man to enter.


    There was arge round table inside the secret room with many empty seats, and a few figures could be seen sitting here and there.


    Seeing the man walking inside the room and taking the nearest seat, a hoarse voice called out.


    "Hehehe, it seems many people don''t know their timings...."


    There were a lot of dissatisfied harrumphs and snorts followed by the voice, which prompted the man with the hat to give a reply.


    "Don''t worry, there will be consequences for those who haven''tplied with the orders."


    Suddenly, the room turned silent as everyone gulped in terror.


    The man appeared calm when he said those words, but everyone in the room knew him, and they also knew that he wouldn''t say anything without intending to do it.


    After a few minutes, some others too entered the room and finally, when the time was right, their meeting started.


    Everybody turned their heads to the hatted man who gave a light cough and began with a calm yet mysterious voice.


    "It''s time we bring down this city to dust...."


    *****


    The next day, early morning.


    "Knock knock knock!"


    There were a series of loud knocks, but the silver-haired boy was still sleeping on the bed without a worry.


    "Knock! Knock! Knock!!"


    Sometimeter, the knocks intensified, which almost shocked the door.


    "Ughh, who is it?", grumbled a sleepyhead who wanted to rest some more on the bed.


    "Wake up Felix! We''re going on a mission today!", Steve''s excited voice could be heard from outside.


    Felix rubbed his sleepy eyes in slumber and turned around the bed while muttering, "Mission?"


    "Yes, a mission! Come on, open the door already!"


    Suddenly, Felix opened his eyes wide in the realization of what he heard and jumped out of his bed.


    "Wait really?", he quickly moved and walked over before opening the door.


    There stood a green-haired boy, with a huge smile on his face who seemed to be very happy for some reason.


    Felix was quick to ask as he wanted to confirm what he had heard face to face.


    "Steve, did you just say we''re going on a mission?"


    Nodding his head, Steve pointed toward some other rooms on the corridor and replied.


    "Yup, you heard it right. Roven and Eric are already getting ready, so I decided to inform you of it."


    Felix rubbed his head in annoyance and asked with a sigh.


    "Steve, when exactly are we supposed to leave?"


    The boy tilted his head in confusion and answered honestly.


    "The time? Well, about half an hourter I guess."


    His answer didn''tfort Felix at all, who jumped forward and grasped Steve''s cor.


    "You stupid! How can you just tell me that now?? There''s only 30 minutes left for me to get ready!"


    Steve called out quickly before he could get hit.


    "Wait Felix, I''m sorry. But I don''t think we have the time to fight right now...."


    Hearing the boy''s words, Felix let go of him and shut the room''s door before speeding into the bathroom to get ready.


    While taking a quick bath, he could hear Steve''s voice who seemed to be overly excited about their mission.


    "Hurry Felix! There''s not much time left."


    Scrubbing his body and while washing his face, Felix gritted his teeth and cursed the boy under his breath.


    "You asshole.....wait for it. I''ll definitely get back to you."

 Chapter 97: Mission Begins.

    A few minutester, a handsome and fully dressed boy with slightly wet silver hair could be seen running down the corridor holding a ck sheathed shortsword.


    He hurried and opened the door of the dining hall, before dashing inside and getting himself a te full of food.


    "Over here Felix!"


    A mischievous voice called out to him, and the boy turned around to find three boys sitting around a table with one of them waving his hand towards him.


    Felix walked over to the table and took a seat, before wolfing down his food without any greetings.


    The three boys looked at each other and their empty tes, then shrugged not minding Felix''s behaviour as they could see the boy seemed to be in a hurry.


    Roven took the lead wiping his mouth with a cloth and started.


    "Alright, now that we all are here. Let me start with the details of the mission. But before that," he turned towards Felix and smiled.


    "Good morning, Felix. Also wee to our team, I hope we get along well."


    With a peace of bread in his mouth, Felix nodded with a smile on his stuffed face.


    "Thanks, but I would have appreciated it if you guys gave me an earlier notice of this sudden mission."


    Roven raised an eyebrow and turned towards Steve with a helpless expression.


    "Steve, don''t tell me you didn''t inform him of the mission yesterday...."


    The boy just shrugged and replied.


    "I went to Felix''s roomst night and called him. But he seemed to have already fallen asleep, so there was nothing I could do."


    Roven sighed and just shook his head, before responding to Felix.


    "We''re terribly sorry for the inconvenience, Felix. And it''s fine if we leave a bitter, so you can take your time and finish the breakfast peacefully."


    Felix raised his head from his te and wiped his mouth, before replying calmly.


    "Oh there''s no need for that. I''m done already.", he pointed at his te which looked clean without anything left.


    Steve silently gave an impressed nod while Eric and Roven looked at each other dumbfounded.


    "So, what kind of mission is this?", Felix directly asked as he had no idea what they were going to do.


    Roven gave the answer turning into a serious mood.


    "There seems to be some kind of disturbance in a nearby town named, Wuller Town. The people there reported signs of formation of a bandit group who are causing panic and trouble in the surroundings. And our job there is to investigate it and solve the problem."


    Steve on the side sliced his hand over his neck and muttered casually.


    "In short words, we''re gonna kill all of them."


    Roven raised his hand towards Steve and corrected.


    "No Steve, we''re going to ''arrest'' them, alright? Arrest!", he empathised the word ''arrest'' like he seemed to have experienced something going wrong in their previous mission.


    "Sure, I get you Roven. Arrest it is then.", Steve nodded wholeheartedly as if he had heard it.


    Roven sighed for the empteenth time, and turned back to Felix.


    "The journey to the town will take about 3 hours of carriage travel, so it''ll take us about two days for the mission, is that fine with you?"


    Felix nodded while giving out a burp to the side.


    "Everything''s fine, and I''m also ready. So do we leave right now?"


    Roven looked at Steve and Eric who nodded and agreed.


    "Yeah, we leave now. Let''s go."


    The four of them stood up from their seats and walked out of the dining hall with their equipments, before heading down to the Main Hall.


    Moving towards the reception desk, Roven took out the mission scroll they had taken beforehand and ced it on the desk.


    "Hey good morning sis, would you approve on this mission please, we''re going out.", he said with a light smile.


    Miss Elsa who was doing her job diligently looked at the mission scroll and turned to the four of them, and when she spotted a silver-haired boy among them, she responded swiftly.


    "No."


    Roven got confused at her rejection and tilted his head.


    "Umm, may I ask why? Dear sister..."


    Miss Elsa narrowed her eyes at Roven and replied coldly.


    "If you dare to say the word ''sister'' here again, then...."


    Roven suddenly felt a bit chilly and stuttered while rubbing his palms.


    He always forgot she had reminded him to not address her as ''sister'' here at the guild, and approach her with a formal greeting, which he fail to do so every time.


    "U-Umm I apologise for that, si- I mean Miss Elsa, but why are you not approving of this mission. It''s not like this is our first time going out to another town for a mission....", he asked carefully as he didn''t want to piss off his erratic sister.


    Miss Elsa pointed her finger at the smiling Felix, who seemed to be happy that he was going out on some action for once and wondering if he could get the chance to obatin some skill points.


    Looking over at his sister''s finger, Roven turned towards Felix and asked her again.


    "What''s wrong with him? Isn''t he an official member now?"


    Miss Elsa nodded but then shrugged.


    "Felix is still at the Zero Rank, so I cannot allow him to leave the city without a proper cause."


    Roven appeared surprised at that as he turned towards Steve and eximed.


    "Wait! Steve you said Felix defeated you yesterday in a battle, and he did that while he was at the Zero Rank?"


    Steve got embarrassed a bit as he scratched his head and then replied with a shrug.


    "Yeah I mean, I didn''t use all of my powers but he did defeat me if you take that I used an average 1st Rank''s capability."


    Everyone there who heard him widened their eyes in astonishment, and then looked at Felix with amazement.


    Miss Elsa seemed to be the most excited who practically walked over from the desk and held Felix''s hand.


    "Is it true, Felix? You really defeated Steve in a battle?", she couldn''t believe it, because even though Steve acted all stupid, he was a great fighter.


    Felix smiled at that and nodded his head truthfully, using it as a means to convince Miss Elsa in allowing him to go for the mission.


    "Yes, I''ve been training a lot these days and I''m also on the verge of advancing to the 1st Rank, so it wasn''t too hard for me to handle Steve."


    The boy who had lost rolled his eyes but kept quiet to not waste this chance.


    Miss Elsa smiled proudly and walked back to her desk happily with a hop in her steps.


    She seemed to be overjoyed that Felix was starting to get more stronger and that he could already face off against Steve.


    She knew that the stronger he was, the more chances he had in surviving the uing ordeals.


    Taking back the mission scroll, she went through all of it and signed off at the end with her seal, before returning it back.


    "There you go. With Felix having the strength to protect himself, and with the rest of you in the team, I''m sure there won''t be any trouble for him in this mission.", she easily gave her permission once she got to know how capable Felix had be.


    With a professional smile on her face, she continued.


    "Also, if you''d like there is a recent batch of potions and supplies that you may find yourselves in need of. Don''t worry, as it''s Felix''s first mission out of the city with a team, there''ll be a discount of 15%."


    The boys except for Felix who were happy with her signing the scroll turned shocked when they heard of the word ''discount'' from the mouth of their guild''s receptionist.


    It was the first time she had ever said so, which made them feel amazed at the power that Felix held.


    Silently giving him a thumbs up, they hurriedly bought several supplies from her, afraid that she''d go back on her words if they weren''t quickly enough.


    After a few minutes, the four of them walked out of the guild building and took in the breath of the cool morning.


    "Haa....Alright guys, let''s get going, we have a mission toplete."


    With Roven taking the lead, they started their adventure with a new teammate who was getting excited to go out in the forests again.


    ''This time I''m going to collect a lot of skill points before Ie back and advance to the First Rank.....''

 Chapter 98: On the Road.

    After leaving the guild building, the team went to a shop affiliated with their guild to rent a carriage with two horses, and the silent Eric took the reins of it.


    Everyone took a seat inside the carriage as it moved on towards the gates of the city.


    Showing their Id cards to the guard, they swiftly left the city and started their journey to Wuller Town.


    Roven and Eric sat at the front of the carriage, just behind the horses, while Felix and Steve sat on the backside, staring at the city that was getting further.


    "Steve, how far is this Wuller Town from here and can you tell me anything you know about the town for me?", Felic asked while looking around the forest they were going deeper in.


    A few minutes had passed since they left the city, and the road was getting a bit rocky which was normal as there wasn''t much development in the transport system in this kingdom.


    "Well, the travel on a carriage will take around 3 hours to get there, which means its about 50 kms from here. As for what I know of the Wuller town.....", Steve put a finger on his chin as he tried to remember anything he knew of.


    "It''s a rtively close town to Edenmont Citypared to the others, so there may be some influence of the many guilds from the city. Even the guild got the mission request from a local shop in that town which is under our control."


    Felix nodded and continued to chit chat with Steve about many things as their lone carriage traversed under the shades of the tall and wide trees.


    Some timeter, Felix was feeling a bit too bored when Roven''s voice called out from the front.


    "Steve, Felix, we''ve got guests iing."


    With a cruel smile on his face, Steve tapped on Felix''s shoulder and jumped out from the carriage.


    "Guests?"


    Felix furrowed his brows in confusion and peeked out towards the front road, where he saw a group of monsters were blocking their way.


    Slowly a simr cruel smile formed at his lips, before he too jumped out of the carriage to not miss the show.


    The four of them stood beside each other in front of the carriage facing the monsters, holding their weapons as Roven stated.


    "Nothing special, just a bunch of kobolds at the 1st Rank. It shouldn''t be too hard," he then turned to Felix and asked.


    "Will you be okay, Felix? It''s your first mission so it''s alright if you stay in the carriage."


    Shaking his head, Felix took out his shortsword from tbe sheath and replied.


    "It''s fine, I can use them to stretch my limbs."


    His bold words made Roven and Eric raise their brows in wonder.


    The silent yet hot-headed Eric made an arrogant smile and muttured.


    "If that''s so, then why don''t we let you handle all of them?", he thought the boy was just talking and underestimated him.


    Steve made a face as if he didn''t like what he had heard.


    It was not that he was worried about Felix getting hurt, but instead he too wanted some action from all the boring travelling.


    "Really? That''s great. Then here I go!", the moment Felix heard Eric''s words, he was delighted and didn''t waste anymore time before dashing towards the monsters.


    "Huh wait- I didn''t agree to this..."  Roven was left speechless as he could only look at the arrogant Eric and the frustrated Steve, who had started to argue with each other and sighed at the trouble.


    Meanwhile, Felix was analysing closely at the bunch of monsters that were also running towards him.


    The kobolds were a monster race a bit simr to goblins in shape and size, just that they were reddish-brown in color instead and had two small horns on their head.


    There were 14 kobolds in the group ahead, with each one of them wielding a thick wooden stick and a low quality shield.


    ''So they are kobolds huh, well here I go.....''


    As all of them rushed to Felix, he activated the skill Agility Burst which increased his speed by a lot, and ran past all the kobolds before arriving at their rear.


    The kobolds were a bit confused at the sudden disappearance of their enemy when a shriek from behind the group alreted them.


    Felix now behind the monsters had attacked thest kobold and had separated its neck from it''s body.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]


    Hearing the sweet chime from the system, Felix stared at the shocked kobolds with his glowing red ruby eyes and dashed forwards with a handsome smile.


    ''More skill points!!''


    Despite Felix''s charming smile, the kobolds who didn''t understand the human''s beauty standards, were not captivated by it; instead, they felt the primal instinct of a prey facing its predator, sending shivers down their spines.


    Suddenly, Felix shed in the middle of their weak formation, and started swinging his sword.


    ''ck Horizon Second Technique: Striking des!''


    As if dancing on his heels, Felix moved about and striked his sword at the red line of weakness on the kobold''s bodies.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]


    One swing after the other, he killed the kobolds and when he felt a bit tired, he retreated using another Agility Burst, before diving right into their midst.


    All this while, he had his passive skill Unanimity acrivated, which gave him a fresh and undisturbed mind.


    On the side, Eric and Roven had their mouths open wide as they witnessed a Zero Rank boy killing dozens of 1st Rank monsters.


    "Cheh, even I wanted to stretch my limbs...", muttered a sad Steve, who was squatting on the ground and staring boringly at the kobold''s massacre.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]


    ....


    After a few minutes, there were no kobolds standing.


    Standing in the middle of all the monster corpses with a satisfied smile on his face, Felix jerked off the blood from his shortsword and sheathed it back.


    Turning around, he asked curiously.


    "What are we going to do with the corpses? Aren''t they blocking the way?"


    His question woke the boys up, who were still gawking at the scene.


    Roven fumbled a bit for words before turning to Eric.


    "Uh Umm, Eric you got it from here."


    Rubbing his head while letting out an amazed sigh at the unexpected disy of strength, Eric nodded his head and walked forward.


    "That was amazing, Felix. Didn''t knew you were that strong...", Eric spoke honestly without undermining him.


    Even thoughpared to 1st Rank humans, monsters like goblins and kobolds were weaker in the same rank. Fighting against a dozen of them while being a rank below was nothing but extraordinary.


    Raising his hands in the sky, Eric warned.


    "Felix, it''s best if youe stand behind me."


    Nodding at him curiously, Felix walked over from the middle of the corpses and stood behind Eric with a confused face.


    "What''s he going do?", he asked turning to Steve.


    The boy just rolled his eyes and replied mockingly with a shrug.


    "The only thing he''s good at..."


    Felix wanted to ask what was that, but a loud shout made him face ahead.


    "Fireball!"


    With his hands in the sky, Eric shouted out loud and materialised a huge one meter wide sphere of reddish fire.


    Throwing his hands forward, the fireball flew over to the kobold''s corpses and engulfed all the bodies with fire which melted their bones and everything.


    Staring at the zing fire which he could feel the heat of, Felix widened his eyes in surprise before jumping towards Eric.


    "Wow dude, that was amazing. Was that a mage skill? Wait- does that make you a mage?", he asked one after the other, as witnessing that magical scene of a fireball appearing out of nowhere made him feel excited.


    ''I mean who would''nt? That was fire for god''s sake. Something that was essential for a human''s survival!''


    Eric got a bit restless when the boy asked him so many questions, but he replied with a proud smile on his face.


    "Hmm you''re right. I''m a Mage, so ofcourse I can do something like that."


    With stars in his eyes like a child getting a lolipop, Felix impatiently asked.


    "That''s incredible! What other skills do you have? Can you fly?"


    Steve walked over to answer that question with a mischievous smile.


    "Like I said Felix, that''s the only thing he''s good at. He doesn''t know shit other than that fireball of his."


    Eric twisted his lips angrily at the mocking as he raised his hand towards Steve.


    "Well why don''t you try surviving my fireball then."


    Moving his hand towards his sword, Steve took a stance and replied.


    "Oh I''ll be happy to do that."


    Felix took a step back watching their rivalry, wondering whether they were going to fight now or what.


    As for whether he wanted them to fight or not? Well, experiencing a battle between a swordsman and a mage was something that he hadn''t witnessed yet, so he was a bit curious about it.


    But it seems they had to battle next time as Roven walked between them and pointed towards the front road ahead.


    "Sorry to break it you guys, but it seems we have more guests iing....."

 Chapter 99: Wuller Town.

    Roven''s words pulled the three out of their sudden sh.


    They turned to look at where he was pointing, and took a step back at the sheer amount of their ''guests''.


    "Shit, we should''ve made a run for it after killing these kobolds."


    "Nah, it''s better this way. Last time I didn''t get the chance to fight."


    Eric and Steve muttered before staring at each other as if they didn''t like what the other said.


    Felix had his eyes sparkling while watching the monsters walk toward them as he absentmindedly took a few steps forward.


    "....more...", he liked what he was seeing as he could obtain more skill points from killing them.


    Roven raised his hand sideways and stopped before Felix could dash onto the monsters.


    "Wait Felix, there''s more than 50 of them this time. It would be better if we handled this carefully."


    His words woke Felix up, who concentrated on looking at the number of monsters ahead and nodded with a serious face.


    As much as he wanted to cause a massacre and get all the points from killing the monsters, about 50 of them seemed a bit too much for him to handle, without using all of his skills that is.


    If he was alone right now facing the monsters, then by using the skills Silent Steps, Earth Swimming and Earth Spikes, he would have killed all of them without a problem.


    But unfortunately, that was not the case, he had to hide all of his power and only use skills like Ratio technique and Agility Burst in battles if there was anyone spectating him.


    ''Maybe I should create some skills that could be used in front of everyone which don''t look that suspicious.....''


    Giving that a thought, he decided he would spend some time thinking of a nice skill like that for ater time.


    Seeing the 50 kobolds getting closer, Roven quickly gave a strategic order to the rest.


    "Eric, you stay at the rear above the carriage andunch fireballs to the farthest kobolds. And Felix, you protect him from any of them getting near. Steve, you handle the left wing while I''ll take the right. Now go!"


    Ending his order, Rovenunched himself to the right side of the road while Steve too followed and went to handle on the left side.


    Eric jumped up on the carriage and started to create many fireballs which were smaller than the previous one, before throwing them to the farthest kobolds.


    Felix stood before the carriage and waited for a few seconds for the kobolds to arrive, and when they did, he dashed ahead swinging his sword and started taking their lives.


    While fighting, he took a nce at Roven and saw him beautifully weave his long sword, taking the monster''s lives one by one without any mistakes in his urate steps.


    Meanwhile, on the other side, Steve was using his hands and legs, punching and kicking the kobolds all the while attacking them with his sword.


    ''Why can''t he do one thing properly?''


    Shaking his head, Felix watched a dozen fireballs flying above his head and crashing on the poor monsters.


    The kobolds tried to dodge them, but their proximity to each other didn''t allow them any space to move, resulting in every fireball causing huge damage and even deaths.


    ''These fireballs are sick!'', he thought in his mind before gripping his sword tightly and shing apart a kobold''s neck.


    ''But the feeling of my sword sinking deep inside the monster''s flesh...now that''s addictive..''


    Letting out a chilling smile, Felix ignored everything and pushed himself towards the kobolds, fighting at a faster rate to get the most kills, and the corresponding skill points.


    With the four of them taking out the monsters from all four sides, the kobolds slowly fell until some minutester, none of them remained standing.


    Eric could be seen panting for breath on the carriage as the fireballs sucked him dry of all his mana.


    Roven and Steve walked back from their sides while thetter mocked.


    "That''s pathetic, Eric. Just some fireballs and you''re tired already? Talk about weak."


    Roven looked at the boy speechlessly before giving him a jab on his head.


    "Shut up, Steve. Look closely, Eric killed more kobolds than you here."


    Surprised at his words, Steve rubbed his slightly painful head and turned to look at the still burning corpses of the many kobolds.


    His face turned a bit red in embarrassment, but he gave a shrug not showing it.


    "Whatever, at least I''m not panting like a dog."


    Eric gritted his teeth and was thinking of aeback, but Roven was quick and didn''t want them to start another fight here.


    "That''s enough guys, we can''t waste more time here, other monsters will be arriving here from the scent of the blood, so we got to hurry and leave."


    Looking at Eric who was exhausted of mana, he walked over to the carriage and took out a potion from their supply sack.


    "Here, drink this and burn those monsters blocking the way."


    Swiftly snatching the potion, Eric downed it all in one gulp and stood up on the carriage again.


    He didn''t waste time and quickly conjured a dozen fireballs before striking the corpses blocking their way on the road.


    The kobolds were reduced to ashes within minutes, and everyone jumped back onto the carriage.


    Taking the reins, Roven jerked up the horses who started walking past the corpses and moving onward toward their destination.


    Sitting at the back of the carriage, Felix had a huge smile on his face as he saw the amount of skill points he got on the road.


    ''220 skill points and we''re just starting the mission, huh? It seems there''s going to be a lot of funter too. Now let''s think about a nice skill I thought of before....''


    Turning to stare at the zing sun above the branches of the trees, Felix started to ponder silently.


    But too bad, there was a chatterbox sitting beside him, and it seemed the boy didn''t like the silence.


    "Hey, you saw that Eric? The dude got nothing except for his red balls, haha..."


    Letting out a sigh, Felix wondered how Roven dealt with these teammates of his.


    *****


    A few hourster, the carriage finally arrived across some human settlements, before it reached Wuller Town''s gates.


    Overall, the appearance of the town from the outside looked a bit empty, as no other people were entering or leaving the town except for them.


    A scene that was theplete opposite of what they could see at the gates of Edenmont City.


    A guard standing near the gates walked over and asked for their identification, to which Roven showed him their guild cards.


    Looking at their identities, the guard gave them a deep look and let them go ahead.


    Slowly, their carriage started moving and entered the town through the gates.


    The guard gave them a side look as they moved inside the town and hurried out into the forest with an excited face.


    Felix and Steve poked their heads out of the carriage and gazed around at the town.


    "Why is it so.....empty?", Steve muttered while looking around the town, trying to spot anyone.


    Felix wondered the same.


    As a town situated near one of the nice great cities, Wuller town should have been bustling with activities too, but what they were seeing told them otherwise.


    "Maybe it has something to do with the bandits, which made the people staying near the entrance evacuate deep inside the town.", Roven replied with a frown on his face.


    Moving deeper, they finally saw some people moving about, but the people were acting cautious and walked hurriedly while keeping a distance from others.


    It looked as if they were scared of something, and didn''t want to get themselves in trouble as they kept their heads low.


    Felix moved his eyes here and there, staring at the abnormal footprints on the road.


    He pointed at it and asked the others.


    "Hey look at that, isn''t that strange? It looks as if some horses were running a race over here."


    Staring down, the others too saw the strange footprints and nodded their heads.


    "Yeah, that looks as if dozens of horses made a mess running all around the town. And it''s not just here, they''re all over the Town''s road.", Roven stated with narrowed eyes.


    Steve made a serious face and gave his analysed opinion.


    "I think I know what happened here."


    The three turned to look at him, especially Eric who had his eyes wide in surprise.


    ''No way....this guy? There''s no way he knows what happened....''


    Felix nudged the serious-faced boy and asked curiously.


    "What do you think?"


    Steve gave a light cough and pointed at the footprints before answering.


    "I think a butcher was chasing after the horses to kill them, and they were all running away from him."


    Hearing his words, Roven and Felix narrowed their eyes and thought about it.


    Eric was left speechless as he retorted in a disbelieving tone.


    "Wait! There''s no way you guys think he got the truth, right? I mean, why would a butcher out of everyone be running after horses in this deserted town??"


    Shaking his head, Roven replied with a frown.


    "Steve''s guess is not that strange. With most of the people leaving the town, there must be some kind of scarcity for food. So the butcher must be out of livestock to sell and went after the horses. Its a usible reason."


    Felix stared at the shocked Eric who still had disbelief on his face, and turned towards Steve who too had his eyes widened in surprise thinking they bought his random guess.


    Suddenly, Felix''s eyes lit as he thought of something that could help them.


    "Wait here guys, I''ll be right back.", saying so he jumped out of the carriage and walked over to a pole at the side of the road.


    The others turned to look at him curiously wondering why he got off all of a sudden, but they saw that he was just standing still near a pole.


    "Is he taking a piss?", Steve asked tilting his head out.


    Roven and Eric shrugged not knowing the reason either, but they too thought the same.


    On the other hand, Felix touched the pole and muttered hopefully.


    "shback."

 Chapter 100: Difficult Mission.

    "Bzzzz"


    The static noise of a broken radio yed for a few seconds after Felix used shback skill on the street pole.


    After that, he could hear the sound of the nearby scene in the town, especially the neighs of many horses.


    "Bwhahaha, look at all of them running back to their homes. Are we that scary?", a thick voiceughed evilly amid many horse''s rapid footsteps.


    "Yehehe, Leader, that''s because you told them if anyone was found on the streets, then we''ll sell them off to the dark guilds."


    A sneaky voice muttered, trying to please his superior.


    "Damn right! But now that everyone''s hiding, there''s no fun here. Come on, let''s go deeper into the town. Who knows, we maye across something fun....like a curvy and hot mother of two. Kekeke."


    Bellowed the first man who seemed to be the leader of the group.


    Following his orders, the group riding the many horses made their way into the town in a hurry, catching up to their leader, who seemed a bit impatient.


    All the sounds and voices quietened down as Felix opened his eyes and frowned.


    ''They must be those bandits.....and it seems they''re in some kind of a deal with those fuckers from the dark guilds.''


    He thought with his fists clenched in hatred.


    As far as he knows, no matter what thing it was, as long as the dark guilds were involved in it then that meant it wasn''t something pleasant.


    "Hey Felix, aren''t you finished yet?", Steve called out to him from the carriage.


    Turning around, Felix walked back and climbed right onto the carriage.


    Steve looked at him strangely and said.


    "You should''ve just told us, you know. There was no need to keep quiet about it."


    "Hmm?", Felix raised his brow and stopped breathing for a moment, wondering whether his actions made him look suspicious just now.


    Steve shrugged and subtly pointed at the street pole.


    "You were trying to hold back your pee, right? We''re just going to check in an inn, so you didn''t have to take a leak there."


    Felix''s face froze for a second before he realised what the boy was implying.


    He twisted his lips frustratingly and shook his head before replying.


    "You''re wrong, Steve. I wasn''t taking a piss there, I went there to find some clues about those horse footprints."


    Steve simply nodded not minding such an excuse, but Roven on the other hand raised his brow and asked curiously.


    "You found some clues, huh? What did you find?"


    Felix put his finger on his chin and responded with a frown.


    "I think this was caused by the bandits. Only they would be barbaric enough to ride so many horses into the town and cause such a mess. Also, the people around here are acting in a feared manner, which only goes to prove it more."


    Roven and Eric had a face of realisation as they connected the dots.


    They should''ve also thought about the same beforehand, but Steve''s random guess made them distracted from thinking of it.


    "That''s right, how could we not realise this sooner? It must have been those bandits who caused all of this.", Roven replied with his eyes lit up, and Eric also nodded.


    Steve was the only one who frowned and muttered.


    "Wait, you guys don''t think it was the butcher who was going after the horses any more...."


    This time, the other didn''t listen to him and instead started the carriage to move on.


    A few minutester, they reached a small inn, parked their carriage beside the stables and then entered inside.


    "This inn is under our guild''s control, and they are the ones who requested this mission.", Roven stated to Felix as they walked in.


    There weren''t many people here either, except for some who were sitting around the corners and silently doing their business.


    The four of them walked to the counter of the inn and Roven handed the worker their mission scroll.


    "We''re from the Twilight Chaos Guild. Take us to your boss."


    The worker had his eyes lit up at their presence as he quickly nodded and showed them the way respectfully.


    "Yes yes, the boss is upstairs. Please follow me."


    The boys followed the worker upstairs to the first floor and reached a room at the farthest corner.


    The worker opened the door and walked inside with a hopeful voice.


    "Boss, they''re here. The ones we requested from the guild are here."


    A middle-aged man with a goatee stood up from his desk as the four of them entered inside, and hurriedly weed them with a tired smile.


    "Good good, you guys are finally here. I''ve been waiting for you."


    He pointed at the chairs for them to sit, but Roven raised his hand in rejection.


    "It''s okay, we''ll be leaving in a moment after you give us all the details regarding the mission."


    They didn''t have time to waste here being entertained by the client as time was pressing, and they had yet to deal with the bandits.


    The middle-aged man nodded and remained standing as he briefed them on the mission''s details.


    "It all started a week ago. Before we knew it, a band of bandits freely entered the town without any resistance. The small guilds in the town didn''t fight them as they should have and instead left the town without doing their duties.", the man said with a dark look and continued.


    "Even the Marquess and the other nobles are silent as if they''re scared of something. Once in a while, the bandits make a round in the whole town with many horses, killing innocent people and capturing women as they desire."


    The faces of the four boys turned dark as they listened, finding it hard to believe such a tragedy was happening a couple of miles from their city.


    "A wanderer staying in the inn was bold enough to ept my request to deliver the mission scroll to your guild, who had to jump out from the walls of the town and run to the city as the guards were keeping everyone in check."


    "This is all the information I could gather from my people and connections. With the bandits running amok, the whole town is mere moments before ruin."


    Saying so, the boss of the inn slumped back on his chair while wiping his sweat with a cloth.


    It seemed his business was greatly affected by the trouble in the town, which led to the loss of his weight and hair.


    Meanwhile, the four boys looked at each other with heavy expressions on their faces.


    It seemed that the matter was more serious than they had thought.


    Roven gave the boss a nod and assured him.


    "Don''t worry. Now that we''re here, we''ll solve the problem. Then excuse us,  we''ll be leaving to deal with the mission."


    The boss gave them a tired nod and waved his hand to the worker to lead them out.


    Out of the room, the four of them remained silent until they exited the inn and stepped out onto the streets.


    Walking randomly on the streets, they looked around and wandered with lots of thought in their minds.


    "Roven, I don''t think we''re strong enough to handle this mission. As the boss said, even the local guilds of this town couldn''t do anything when faced against these bandits. I think they must have some powerful background to instil such fear towards even the nobles.", Eric suddenly broke the silence and said rapidly as he waved his hands around to convince them.


    Roven nodded as what Eric said was the same thing he was thinking of.


    He replied with a serious look on his face.


    "You''re entirely right, this mission should be handled by the stronger members of the guild  and us being here will only put ourselves in danger."


    Steve didn''t like what they were talking about as he retorted in a grim tone.


    "Huh? Does that mean we''re retreating? Don''t you see how these people are suffering under the bandit''s threat? And you want us to go back without doing anything....."


    Felix walked towards him and patted the boy''s shoulder.


    "Roven doesn''t mean it in that way, Steve. Even he is angry at the bandits for doing such atrocities. But there''s more to it that''ll put us in a dangerous position."


    Felix tried to reason with the boy as he was the only one who knew that the background these bandits had were the dreadful dark guilds.


    Roven gave him an appreciated nod and gave his reply.


    "Yes, Steve. Even I feel like just walking right into those bandit''s hideouts and knock them all senseless, but what if they turned out to be way stronger than me. Then our whole team will be in danger, and as the team leader, I do not wish for it to happen."


    His words calmed down Steve for a few seconds before his eyes lit up as he said.


    "Right! Instead of going to their hideout, why don''t we bait them out one by one and then deal with them?"


    Eric shook his head and rebuked with a sigh.


    "That wouldn''t work either. These bandits are arge group, and taking them out one by one wouldn''t be possible for us. Sooner orter, they''ll find out and catch us."


    Steve frowned deeply hearing his n wouldn''t work out and lowered his head in frustration.


    Roven looked at everyone and saw that they were all feeling hopeless about it.


    He didn''t want to press them further but he had to do his duty as the team leader.


    "Alright, it''s decided. We''ll travel back to the city and inform the guild about this mission''s difficulty. That is the best way to deal with this matter."


    The other three forced their heads to nod while clenching their fists.


    Roven gave them a strained smile and waved.


    "Come on, let''s get out of here. The guild will know a better way to solve this problem."


    The boys turned around dejectedly to go back at the inn where they had parked their carriage.


    Suddenly, the ground started to tremble a bit which they quickly noticed.


    "Neighh!!!"


    The sound of many horses stomping on the road could be heard from afar as figures riding horses appeared in their sight.


    "Wait- they are....", Felix widened his eyes in shock as barbaric-looking men with twisted smiles on their faces came riding on horses towards them.


    "Everyone, prepare forbat. The enemies are in sight.", Roven ordered in a frenzy as the bandits almost reached them.


    The horses slowed down when they arrived near the boys, and a man leading them came forward on his horse and ordered while pointing his sword at the boys.


    "Kneel....or die."


    =====


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    Ps:


    100 chapters done I guess.....


    So, how is it?


    give me your thoughts in the review, I''ll definitely make use of them.

 Chapter 101: The Bandits.

    Felix, Roven, Eric and Steve.


    The four boys stood rooted on their spots in theirbat stances as the bandits surrounded them on horses.


    A man wearing a headband who was leading the bunch of bandits pointed his sword at them with a dark smile.


    "Haha to think our n would so easily work out. I don''t care which guild you''re from, but it''s time for you to taste death."


    The four boys couldn''t do anything as they could feel the unrestrained strength of the bandits surrounding them.


    There were about 15 of them, with each one being at Mid and Late 1st Rank, and the man leading them was at Early 2nd Rank.


    Such a force was too much for the four of them to handle.


    If it was only a Rank 2, then they could''ve held him back with the four of them together, but there were 14 others too who were as strong as they were.


    "Shit! There''s no point in standing still, I say we fight them!", Steve muttered while gritting his teeth.


    He didn''t like the fact that they were surrounded by the bandits in clear daylight and that they were on the weaker side.


    "No, we cannot do that. It''ll be our loss if we choose to fight.", Roven stopped Steve and muttered in a low voice.


    "Then what are we going to do? Let them kill us?", Steve asked in anger.


    Roven looked at his three teammates and assured them.


    "Wait here, let me talk with him."


    Before the others could stop him, Roven walked forward and stood just before the sword pointed by the man.


    "Let us meet your leader, I have a proposal that he may be interested in."


    The man wearing the headband raised his brows in surprise and let out a wide smile.


    "Oh, so you don''t want a quick death? But that''s too bad, I don''t find any reason to do as you say."


    The man raised his sword towards the sky, ready to cut off the boy''s neck.


    "Stop!"


    "Wait-!"


    "Roven!!"


    The man twisted his lips in amusement, hearing the scared shouts of the other boys.


    Just as he was about to bring down his sword and sever the boy''s neck, Roven''s next words stopped him.


    "Money. You''ll obtain arge amount of money if you take us to your leader."


    The man looked down at the boy who had a determined look on his face, and a greedy light twinkled in his eyes as he kept aside his sword.


    Not only he, but the rest of the bandits too showed an interested look on their faces.


    As bandits, the only thing they wanted and were ready to sacrifice their lives for was money.


    "Huh..that''s not bad. Where is this money then? I''ll bring you to the leader if you give it to me."


    Roven turned around and pointed at himself and the other boys.


    "Us. We''re the money you''ll be receiving."


    His words confused the man, who brought out his sword up again and asked angrily.


    "Are you joking with me here? If you don''t have the money then I''ll just kill you all."


    Roven bit his lips and rified the man''s confusion directly by stating his proposal.


    "Take us as hostages. Our guild treasures all their members, and they''ll surely pay you a hefty price for releasing us."


    The man widened his eyes in realisation as he nodded with a satisfied smile.


    The four boys were not that strongpared to them, and because of this, the bandits could easily defeat them. So instead of just killing them, selling them off for money seemed to be a better option.


    "Right. You guys are from the city, the guilds there are super rich. Why didn''t I think of this before? Hahaha.", the manughed crazily and other bandits too followed suit


    Steve had a disbelieving face as he questioned with his fists tight.


    "Roven are you for real?! Are we letting them take us as hostages? Shouldn''t we at least try to fight them?!"


    Turning around, Roven sneakily looked at the banditsughing wildly and gave the three boys a small wink.


    Eric who had a deep frown saw what their leader was trying to do and his expression eased up a little.


    Felix too noticed it and slightly pinched Steve''s hand for him to keep quiet.


    Gulping back his words, Steve lowered his face and didn''t continue speaking.


    "Enoughughing guys, all of us will be rewarded if we hand these boys to the leader. So what are we waiting for, let''s take them there."


    The man sheathed back his sword and gave orders for the bandits to keep the boys surrounded while they led them to their leader.


    Kicking the boys forward, the bandits started to make their way deeper into the town.


    It seemed they had boldly situated their hideout in the middle of the town, which proved how they had caught onto the boys this quickly.


    Being surrounded by the bandits and walking towards their hideout, Roven lowered his voice as much as he could so that the bandits who were on their horses wouldn''t hear him and cautiously muttered to his teammates.


    "....listen here, my n is simple. At the count of three, Eric will sneak attack their horses with as many fireballs as he can. And all of us will escape into the narrow alleys before the bandits can catch us. Is that clear?"


    The other three boys kept a straight face and gave him a subtle nod.


    Steve even had a small smile on his face as he didn''t like the idea of bing their hostage.


    Roven took a deep breath and peeked at the bandits before counting in a low voice.


    "....one...two....three!"


    Eric abruptly raised his hands when Roven reached ''three'' and hurriedly conjured as many fireballs as he could before throwing them randomly at the bandit''s horses.


    "Neigh!!"


    "What!"


    "Attack!!"


    Before the bandits could react, the fireballs hit their horses making them jump around and throw their riders.


    The scene was chaotic as the horses kicked up a lot of dust and sand when their bodies got burned by the fireballs.


    The bandits on the other hand protected themselves from getting hit by their horses after falling on the ground.


    "Run now!!", Roven quickly grabbed Eric''s hand and pulled him away from there.


    Taking the chance, the boys ran past the fallen bandits and dashed away into a dark alleyway.


    "Fuck! How dare they trick us!! Chase them down and bring them back!!", the man with the headband bellowed as his face twisted in anger.


    Most of the bandits who had fallen off jumped back onto their feet leaving their horses at his orders, and ran behind the boys while taking their weapons out.


    The man himself got his horse to stand back and climbed it to go after the boys.


    Meanwhile, the four of them had entered a random alley and weren''t slowing down, instead, they were running deeper, to get as far as possible from the bandits.


    "What do we do now, Roven? The whole town is under the bandit''s control. Should we leave the town and run out into the forest?", Felix spoke under rapid breaths as they ran.


    "Yeah Roven, we should get out of here as soon as we can.", Eric seconded the idea.


    Steve remained silent this time as he still didn''t like what they were doing, running away from their enemies and not helping the people who were suffering.


    He knew that they were on the weaker side but that didn''t stop him from thinking about saving the Town''s people from the bandits.


    Roven gave a forced smile and shook his head as they continued to run in the shadows of the buildings.


    "As much as I want to run away from this ce, leaving the town wouldn''t favour us. The guard must have been the one who ratted on us to the bandits, so we can''t escape through the gates without alerting the bandits. Even if we run into the forest, the bandits know the terrain better than us, so they''ll catch us easily once we''re in their sight."


    His words brought a dark look on their faces as they realized that they were trapped in the town, and leaving it would only end them sooner.


    "What do we then?", Eric asked hopelessly as they could hear the shouts of the bandits from behind them.


    Steve suddenly stopped and gave them a determined smile as he responded while clenching his sword.


    "We fight!"


    Roven was quick to pull back the boy into running as he scolded lightly.


    "No Steve, that''s stupid. Even if we do fight, it''s not going to be a direct fight as that would put us at a disadvantage."


    Steve who was back to running along with them had his eyes lit up as he replied excitedly.


    "No direct fight? Wait Roven, you have a n right? Tell us, or else I''m going to fight them now."


    Roven sighed while taking a nce behind them, to check whether the bandits had caught up before telling them his n.


    "Alright listen, my n is simple."


    With his eyes narrowed, Roven revealed them the n that made the two battle maniacs grin widely.


    "We divide and conquer them."

 Chapter 102: Assault.

    A few minutester, the bandits who were chasing after the boys stopped as they found their targets standing still right before them.


    "You punks! Did you finally realise it''s no use running?"


    "Hahaha, boys, this is the end for you."


    "Quick, catch them before they run again."


    The bandits teased evilly, but the third man seemed to be the smartest among these bandits, as instead of saying the cheap lines of a viin, he advised them to catch them.


    "Come on, man, calm down. What are just these four going to do?"


    "Yeah, look at them standing all shocked. They''ve given up running."


    The first two men mocked as they stood at their cezily and didn''t mind the third bandit''s advice.


    The other bandits, too, gave dirty smiles as they slowly walked to the sides to surround the four boys.


    The third bandit gritted his teeth as he felt they were going easy on their targets, knowing how the boys had just sneak attacked them under their noses with those fireballs.


    Meanwhile, the four boys looked at each other and gave a solemn nod in unison before Eric again raised his hands to conjure a few fireballs.


    The moment the bandits caught sight of the fireballs, they shouted in alert.


    "Guard yourselves! Those fireballs areing again."


    This time, the fireballs weren''t much in quantity and didn''t cause them any harm as they hit the ground before them, building up dust, which slightly blocked their vision.


    "Run!"


    After attacking with the magic spell, the boys quickly split up and ran in different directions.


    They had already nned this beforehand, and had stopped at this particr spot as it had four ways into which they could escape.


    "Shit! They''re separating, quickly chase them, and don''t let them escape."


    The bandits cursed under their breaths and blew away the dust from the surroundings before splitting up and going after their targets randomly.


    The boys, on the other hand, didn''t look back and ran deeper into thebyrinth-like alleys, bringing along with them a few bandits each who chased after them.


    Intending to lure the bandits away for them to not group together, the four boys ran as fast and as far as they could without letting themselves be caught.


    But two among them couldn''t run any longer as they reached a dead-end in the narrow alleyways, which made the bandits gradually arrive towards them.


    The two of them were Eric and Felix, who both turned around to handle the few bandits in front of them.


    On Eric''s side, the boy had a grim look on his face as he slowly raised his hand towards the sky.


    The three bandits who had chased after him took a step back when they saw that he was the one who had previously conjured those terrifying fireballs to hurt them.


    They looked at each other and decided to deal with the boy with caution.


    While on Felix''s side, four bandits had surrounded him.


    Seeing the boy standing there with his back towards them, one of the bandits shouted in twisted anger.


    "You''re dead boy, what are you going to do now that you''re all alone, huh?"


    Felix slowly turned around taking his shortsword out, with a yful smile on his face which made the bandits frown.


    "Well, to answer your question...", Felix muttered calmly and narrowed as a sharp glint shed through his red eyes.


    ".....I''ll be going all out now."


    At the end of his words, he concentrated his focus as the skill Unanimity passively came into use and dashed towards the nearest bandit with his sword out.


    The bandits quickly turned alert and prepared themselves for the sh, but moments before striking the first bandit, Felix activated one of his skills.


    "Earth Spikes!"


    Suddenly, the ground beneath the nearest bandit protruded as a sharp spike emerged from there and attacked his legs.


    The bandit who was eyeing Felix didn''t notice any change in the surroundings until he felt horrible pain as something prated his legs.


    "Aaaaahhhhhh my legs!!", the bandit screamed out at the top of his lungs as his right leg separated from his torso and his body fell back on the ground.


    But that didn''t stop Felix who ran past him and went ahead to attack the rest of the bandits who were still surprised at the sudden change on the battlefield.


    "T-That boy is also a mage!", one of the bandits muttered as he felt his legs tremble seeing his friend''s gruesome state.


    The other bandits too nodded gravely as they mistook Felix as a mage, as he could do something like manipting the earth which looked like a spell.


    Felix finally arrived near the other bandits who had turned defensive with their weapons against him.


    The three were standing side by side as they awaited him, and the moment he came within their arm''s reach, they attacked him together.


    Felix who was about to receive their weapons on his body gave them a harmless smile and used another of his skills.


    "Agility Burst!"


    He suddenly disappeared from the ce before the bandit''s strikes hit the ground where he was standing.


    Quickly arriving behind the stunned bandits, Felix made use of the blindspot and used an Assault Impact on one of them.


    As his shortsword directly came into touch with the bandit''s back, it smoothly entered his body before the effect of the technique forcibly pushed the bandit forward.


    "Khughh!!"


    Spurting out blood, the bandit flew through the air in the narrow alley and crashed on the ground near the other fallen bandit, with a bloody hole in his chest on disy.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]


    The face of the fallen bandit, who had his legs cut off, turned pale as he turned to see his friend''s body lying unmoving beside him.


    With a terrified expression, he shouted out stuttering to his other remaining mates.


    "H-Hurry and d-deal with that boy already!"


    The other two bandits who were shocked at the quick attack on their friend hurriedly turned around to face the boy, but they widened their eyes as he was nowhere to be found.


    "W-Where did he go?!", a bandit shouted in terror.


    The other bandit shook his head with sweat running down his spine.


    Both of them looked scared as they surveyed their surroundings with caution to prevent another sudden attack on them.


    Meanwhile, the fallen bandit had turnedpletely quiet, as he was incapable of thinking from what he was seeing right now.


    The expression on his face bordered to insanity as he stared eye-wide at the silver head slowly peeking out from the ground just below the two cautious bandit''s legs.


    He took a terrified gulp when the boy who was ''swimming'' in the ground gestured for him to keep quiet by putting his finger on his lips.


    Partially submerged beneath the surface, Felix nced at the guarded and tensed actions of the two bandits, before again activating his skill.


    ''Earth Spikes.''


    Two sharp and thick curved spikes instantly emerged from the ground, and before the two bandits could even notice, the one-meter-long spikes pierced right into their stomachs.


    "Khuh?"


    Both of them spit blood and turned downwards, then widened their eyes in shock.


    Not because they saw the spikes impaled into them, but because they saw the boy''s head protruding out of the ground and giving them a devilish smile.


    Abruptly, another two spikes emerged out from behind them and stabbed into their backs.


    With blood pouring out from their wounds which soaked the ground wet, the two bandits lost the light in their eyes as they slumped down against the still spikes, that remained impaled into them.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]


    Felix slowly surfaced out from the ground and deactivated the skill Earth Swimming.


    He looked at his shortsword that he didn''t use much in this battle and regretted a bit as it felt better to fight with the sword.


    "Ughh It would''ve been exciting if I fought with only the sword though...."


    Shaking his head, he flicked off the little blood on his sword and sheathed it.


    But before the sword could entirely enter inside the sheath, he paused and turned around.


    His eyes lit up as he saw thest remaining fallen bandit that he had forgotten to kill.


    "Oh...I''m sorry for forgetting you."


    Taking out the shortsword from the sheath, he slowly walked towards him as his eyes glowed eerily.


    The fallen bandit was trembling in shock as his mind couldn''t process anything that was happening at the moment.


    He wanted to run away from this ce, but unfortunately his legs had been cut off so the only thing he could do was drag his upper body using his arms.


    And that was possible only when he had a sane mind.


    As the silver haired boy with a devilish expression on his face stepped towards to him, the bandit couldn''t do anything except for staring nkly at him in terror.


    The bandit''s body remained still in shock as Felix''s shortsword came shing through the air, and severed the bandit''s head off from his body.


    Spinning in the air for a while, the bloodied head dropped down onto the ground and rolled away, before the bandit''s torso too fell back on the ground.


    "..thud."


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]

 Chapter 103: Rank 2 Bandit.

    As thest of the four bandits died, Felix decided not to sheath his sword back as he wasn''t satisfied yet.


    "Just 40 skill points from the four of them is not enough. Maybe I should hunt the others too...."


    ncing around the maze-like narrow alley, Felix recalled where he hade from and moved towards there while slowly submerging into the ground.


    *****


    "Alright, it''s enough running."


    Steve muttered to himself and stopped in the middle of the alleyway before turning around and waiting for the bandits as he wielded his sword.


    As soon as he saw the figures of the bandits arriving at his spot, he shed forward and started to attack them with a bright smile on his face.


    On Roven''s side, the boy was running through the confusing alleys and attacking the bandits while sneaking upon them from the shadows.


    He didn''t think it would be a good idea to face them head-on in the narrow space as they could easily surround him, so he took them out one by one without facing any trouble.


    The one who was having the most trouble was Eric, because after quickly dealing with the three bandits with his fireballs, the bandit with the headband who was of the 2nd Rank encountered him.


    "Shit!"


    Eric cursed as he sent another fireball towards the Rank 2 bandit.


    The bandit was agile as he easily dodged the fireball and continued looking at the boy mockingly.


    He was waiting for the boy to get himself exhausted, all the while ying with him for burning their horses.


    From the beginning, Eric had already used a lot of fireball spells, almost reaching his limit at this point, and without a mana potion, he couldn''t use them as much as he wanted.


    In such a tight position, Eric had a pale face as he brainstormed on how to handle the situation.


    A few minutester, he still couldn''t hurt the bandit who was patiently lurking around him, and after some time, Eric ran out of mana as he dropped down to the ground, gasping for breath.


    "Well, well, it seems ytime is over for you...."


    The Rank 2 bandit walked over to the tired and scared boy as he teased.


    Eric gulped as he looked above at the maning towards him and crawled backwards on the ground.


    "No running anymore, too.", the bandit arrived beside Eric and pulled at his hair as the boy resisted.


    "L-Leave me!"


    Taking out his de, the bandit smiled as he responded.


    "Did you forget? We had a deal, so you''re going to be a hostage. But don''t worry,  your friends will be there too."


    Exining kindly with a twisted smile, the bandit hit Eric on the head with the back of his de and knocked him unconscious.


    Carrying the unconscious boy over his shoulder like a sack of money, the bandit walked away from there towards their hideout to keep their product safe.


    *****


    Felix ran and searched around through the confusing alleys, but regrettably couldn''t find another bandit to hunt.


    "Hmm that''s strange, these paths look a bit unfamiliar...."


    He muttered while gazing around in the alleyway he was at, and wondered where the others were.


    On the way, he had encountered a few townspeople standing around the corners of the alleyways, who hid away the moment they caught sight of him but Felix didn''t mind them, and went past looking for the others.


    As the afternoon sun zed overhead, casting intermittent shadows from the surrounding buildings, the atmosphere took on a slightly somber tone.


    After a few moments, Felix stopped running and frowned as he surveyed the surroundings.


    ".....did I get lost?"


    He sighed while shaking his head, and put his sword back into the sheath as it was useless to run weilding it when there were no enemies in sight.


    "I guess there''s only one way left.", Felix looked around and walked over to the edge of the alleyway.


    He ced his hand on the wall of a random building, closed his eyes and used his skill.


    "shback."


    A few secondster, he opened his eyes with a disappointing look and moved towards a different building as he didn''t get what he wanted.


    He kept on doing the same thing as he walked here and there all over the alleys, until some twenty minutester he finally heard a clue, but what he heard made him have a dark expression on his face.


    "Take this boy to the hideout, he''s going to make us some money. Also make sure there''s room for others too.", a rough voice sounded which reminded Felix of the Rank 2 bandit.


    "Hehe that''s good, that''s good. Don''t worry sir, I''ll take this boy back. But what did you mean by room for others? There were more of them?", another voice who seemed to be a banditing from a different patrol group asked.


    The Rank 2 bandit replied with an amused tine, "Yeah, there were three others. Also don''t alert the boss of this, after I catch the remaining ones, I''ll personally hand all of them together to him."


    The voices then died down as Felix twisted his face with a furious look in his eyes.


    "Shit! One of us got caught! Who was it? Steve? Eric? Or Roven?


    No matter what, I must quickly find the others and unite with them before this guy catches all of us."


    With a rapid pace, Felix used some more shbacks on the surroundings and gathered clues as to where the man had gone before heading to that location.


    His hurried footsteps echoed in the lonely alleys of the town, resembling the ticking of a clock, which seemed to grow heavier as time went by.


    *****


    After killing the few bandits on their sides with little to no injuries sustained, Steve and Roven came across each other as they went back the way both of them had escaped.


    "Did you get them?", Steve asked as there was still an intense feeling coursing through his body from the recent fight.


    Roven nodded with a serious face and replied while ncing at Steve''s hand over his sword.


    "Yeah. And looking at you, it seems you too dealt with the bandits that came after you."


    Steve winked with a big smile at that.


    Shaking his head, Roven gave a helpless smile and suggested after ncing around the alleyway.


    "We must find Eric and Felix too, they should''ve handled the Rank 1 bandits by thenselves, but I can''t say the same regarding the Rank 2 one."


    Steve frowned and countered with growing battle spirit.


    "It may be not possible if we''re separated, but I strongly think we can take down that Rank 2 bandit if the four of us surround him together. What do you say, Roven? Wouldn''t it be a perfect way to kill that asshole who wanted to take us hostage?"


    Sensing the killing intent oozing off from Steve, Roven sighed speechlessly feeling a bit tired and gave the matter a serious thought.


    "Hmm, even if we could, I wouldn''t want to risk it. As I''ve already mentioned before, this mission is too difficult for us, so let''s not put ourselves in any kind of dangerous situation."


    Hearing their team leader''s thoughts, Steve didn''t know how to respond as he clenched his fists before releasing them with a sigh.


    "Alright, let''s do as you say then. But what after this? Are we supposed to escape from the town?"


    Roven gave a small smile seeing the hot-headed boy agree to his advice and opened his mouth to respond.


    Only that he couldn''t say what he wanted as another familiar yet dirty voice teased.


    "Kheke you want to escape from here? Well too bad I''m not nning on letting any of you go."


    Steve and Roven widened their eyes in shock and quickly turned around to find the bandit with the headband staring at them, his eyes carrying a mocking look as he walked near to them.


    They took a step back with rmed expressions, and frowned as they felt their backs sweating from the sudden tense situation.


    "Oh yeah, I also caught that fireball boy, he was crying not to hurt him when I knocked him out haha.", the bandit added taking pleasure at their feared faces.


    Suddenly it felt like the temperature of the surroundings went cold as a nk look emerged on the two boy''s faces.


    "You what?", Roven asked as his body trembled with a wide re on his frosted face.


    Steve on the side could be seen taking deep breaths as if trying to hold himself back from charging recklessly at the bandit.


    The bandit felt a bit intimidated from the stares the two boys were giving him, but he felt more embarrassment for getting scared by them.


    "H-How dare you look at me like that you little bastard! Let me show you you''re fucking ce!", he stuttered angrily with a mad look and dashed forward taking out his sword at them.


    "Roven, no matter what, don''t try to stop me." Steve warned and held out his sword, which started to tremble a little as he concentrated his mind.


    Looking at his friend who was letting out the power that coulde to hurt him in the future, Roven bit his lips in frustration but didn''t stop him.


    As the bandit crossed half the distance towards them, Steve kicked off the ground and met him head on as his sword glowed dangerously.


    A few moments before both of their''s swords met, the bandit became shocked when he saw a powerful force emanating from the boy''s sword.


    ''No way- Is that...''


    He couldn''t continue his thoughts as their swords shed with terrible force that sent shockwaves through the alley.

 Chapter 104: Critical Moment.

    "ng!!"


    Two swords met each other, producing a force that blew away the dust and rocks in the alley.


    Steve bit his lips and maintained his hold over his sword as he and the bandit pushed themselves to dominate their swords over each other.


    At such a close distance, the bandit could clearly see the boy''s glowing sword, which seemed to emit a pure aura.


    Increasing his strength, the bandit pushed away Steve a few meters and took a few steps back with a cautious face.


    Staring at the boy who was getting back into hisbat stance, the bandit muttered in astonishment.


    "I didn''t expect that you could manifest aura....", there was a hint of surprise on the bandit''s face.


    Steve kicked off the ground without replying and brought down his glowing sword on the bandit.


    "Cheh!"


    The bandit twisted his face in anger as he felt jealous of the boy who could manifest his aura and grasped his sword tightly before blocking the boy''s attacks.


    Their swords shed against each other, with Steve attacking and the bandit blocking all of them as he remained wary of the aura-coated sword.


    He didn''t have much knowledge about the people who could manifest their auras out of their bodies as he had rarely interacted with them.


    It was said that among the most talented warriors, some could merge their inner aura acquired from training with their willpower, resulting in the manifestation of their aura into a tangible reality.


    Saying it in words may sound easy, but ording to a report, only one among a thousand warriors had this remarkable ability.


    No one knew the criteria of possessing such an ability, but whoever possessed it, they were ced at the top of their ranks.


    Steve backed a few steps away from the bandit as he took deep breaths, whereas the bandit remained silent as he contemted something while narrowing his eyes.


    Roven walked over and patted Steve''s shoulders before whispering a n that he hade up with to deal with the bandit.


    "....after that.....we''ll...."


    Steve had his eyes lit up as he nodded energetically at Roven''s n and got ready to execute it.


    Giving Roven a nod, Steve approached the bandit slowly and started asking him questions.


    "You...what did you do to Eric? And where is he now!?", he sounded angry.


    The bandit was brought out from his thoughts as he looked deeply at the boy in front of him for a few seconds and gave a mocking smirk aftering to a decision.


    "It doesn''t matter whether I tell you or not, because you''re soon going to meet him as a fellow hostage."


    His words angered Steve more, who clenched his teeth and dashed forward to attack the bandit.


    The bandit received Steve''s attacks head-on and even started to retaliate in many ways.


    Steve was finding it difficult to cope with the Rank 2 bandit who had a stronger body than his own, but his ability to manifest aura on his sword provided an advantage when their swords struck each other.


    Their swords danced in the dark alleys, gaining sparks and metallic sounds, which would awe any spectator present at the scene.


    As both of them increased the intensity of their strikes, some minor wounds formed on their bodies, but the bandit had the least of them.


    "Hehe, is that the best you can do? I guess you''re ready to meet your friend.", teased the bandit to make the boy more angry.


    "Gwhhaaghhhhhh!!!", His eyes red, Steve let out a roar from his throat and pushed himself to his limits, thinking of giving the bandit at least one critical hit.


    "Wait- NO, STEVE!!", Roven screamed while he was sneaking behind the bandit.


    The n he had whispered to Steve before was for him to distract the bandit with many questions and act angry over them while attacking to fool the bandit into lowering his guard.


    Meanwhile, he would sneak behind the bandit andnd a deadly strike, inflicting a major injury that could help them win the fight.


    But all of that went downhill when Steve gave in to his emotions and let the bandit''s taunts anger him for real, instead of doing theplete opposite.


    As Steve used all his aura to the maximum to strengthen himself and coat his sword, his whole being radiated with power as he charged at the bandit.


    The bandit had a nervous face watching the boy grow as strong as him, but then he decided to use and take out something from his pocket.


    It was a ck colored vial.


    Swiftly opening the cap, he gulped down the liquid present inside the vial and threw it away.


    Roven who saw everything from behind made a shocked expression, but Steve who was still dashing toward the bandit didn''t care about anything as his mind was consumed with fury for capturing his teammate.


    A secondter, before Roven could warn him, Steve reached beside the Rank 2 bandit and swung his sword with all of his power in this one strike.


    Aimed at the bandit''s chest, his sword blew against the wind and glowed dangerously as the tip slowly entered his opponent.


    When the sword had pierced just one centimeter into the bandit''s chest, a bare fist came flying through the air with a speed unnoticeable to human sight and punched Steve right on his stomach.


    "Khugh!"


    Spurting out blood, Steve got punched away along with his sword which left the bandit''s body, and crashed onto the ground a few meters away.


    "Steve!", Roven eximed in worry and ran up to his friend to check his condition.


    Steve seemed to have incurred a fatal wound on his ribs, and it seemed that he was having some trouble breathing with his stomach punctured.


    The bandit on the other hand widened his eyes in surprise while clenching his fists.


    "Amazing...."


    He could feel a new type of power coursing through his muscles and bones, which greatly increased his strength and even temporarily raised his Rank from Early Rank 2 to Mid Rank 2.


    "They didn''t lie. This potion really does increase our strength, and that too without any side effects...."


    With the newfound strength, the bandit gave a wide smile and sauntered towards the two boys for another round of fight.


    "Get up, the fight is far from over. You''ll have to pay for making so much trouble instead of justing as a hostage."


    The bandit had decided that instead of just knocking out the boys, he would leave them with some permanent injuries so that they may note to hunt him in the future.


    Especially the boy who could manifest aura, because if the boy was given more time, then he''d easily advance and get stronger with his remarkable ability.


    What he didn''t know was that Steve was using a forbidden method to forcibly manifest aura by sacrificing his life power.


    It was a secret technique that their team had found in their recent missions, and instead of reporting it to the guild, they had kept it a secret for various reasons.


    As curious and battle-oriented Steve was, he couldn''t stop himself from learning the technique knowing it was in an unorthodox way.


    So mistaking Steve as one of the aura users, the bandit thought it was best to deal with him before he grew stronger.


    Seeing the bandit approaching them with bloodlust, Roven looked at the injured Steve in worry, before standing up in defense.


    The bandit smiled mockingly at the boy facing against him and dashed ahead quickly, before raising his legs and kicking Roven on the side.


    "Ghwaah!"


    Unable to even block or counterattack the fast attack, Roven got thrown to the side as he rolled on the ground.


    "That was for lying anding up with a n behind our backs.", the bandit muttered before turning to look at Steve.


    "As for you, you made a huge mistake by showing me what you were capable of."


    Stepping ahead, he reached beside Steve who had an agonized expression on his face from the pain in his ribs.


    Giving a crazy smirk, the bandit slowly raised his right leg above Steve.


    "One."


    On the count, he heavily stomped his leg on the boy''s stomach.


    "Kghaaahh!!!!"


    The already injured boy screamed at the top of his lungs as his ribs cracked a few bones.


    "There''s much moreing. Two!"


    A little excited from the pained look on the boy''s face, the bandit gave another kick on the side as Steve rolled painfully.


    "Gwaah!", Steve spurted out blood and looked at the bandit with hatred.


    "S-Stop it!!", shouted Roven grimly as he picked himself up by the wall''s support.


    "No can do. Three!"


    Then came another kick on Steve''s back, throwing him some distance away to the corner of the alley.


    The bandit started moving to the fallen boy with a twisted smile.


    "W-Wait! I was the one who nned all this, so leave him alone and hit me!!", Roven pleaded with a sad face.


    The bandit ignored the begging of Roven and looked deeply at the boy who was twitching on the ground.


    Putting his finger on his chin in contemtion, the bandit muttered.


    "Hmm....it''s not enough. He should be more injured, so that he may never be able to walk and fight again."


    This time the bandit didn''t use his leg to kick or attack, and instead grabbed his sword, intending to stab a few ces on the boy.


    Roven''s face became pale when he saw this. He didn''t want his teammate and friend to get hurt anymore, so he forgot about everything and kicked off the ground without caring for his wounds.


    Grasping his sword, he grits his teeth and attacks the bandit from behind.


    "ng!"


    But his weak attack was easily blocked by the bandit who used his sword and parried off the boy''s attack without even turning around.


    "Get lost."


    Annoyed at the interruption, the bandit shed his sword on Roven''s arms, wounding him so that he may not pick up his sword again, before kicking him away back onto the far ground.


    Rolling on the ground, Roven''s body hit the wall of a building as he clenched his teeth in agony.


    He painfully opened his eyes, only to see the bandit raising his sword high while aiming at Steve''s back.


    "...n-no..", he called out feebly but his words didn''t bring any change.


    At his lowest point, he even came to regret choosing this mission toplete, ming himself for not carrying out his duty as the leader of the team and for cing his teammates in grave danger.


    Watching the bandit slowly bring down his sword, Roven begged hopefully in his mind.


    ''Anyone...just anyone...please, please save Steve...''


    Laying on the ground, Roven teared up, witnessing his friend getting stabbed.


    But moments before the sword could reach Steve''s body, something sprang up from within the ground below the bandit.


    "W-What...", the boy could only widen his eyes in shock at the miracle that was happening before his eyes, but he didn''t know that there were more shocking things stored for them today.

 Chapter 105: Exposed.

    A few seconds earlier....


    Felix rushed around the alleyways while using the skill shback at many corners of the buildings to find his way to the Rank 2 bandit.


    As he did so, he reached a corner where he could hear nging noises of swords and some people speaking.


    ''Is he here?''


    Taking cover near a wall, he stopped running and peeked over to the scene before clenching his fists in anger at what he had witnessed.


    ''Steve!''


    Felix saw how the Rank 2 bandit kicked Steve all over his body and then threw away Roven, who wasing to attack him, before raising his sword to stab into Steve.


    It all happened in just a few seconds as he took some time to process what was happening


    ''No! I''ve to stop it!'', Felix reacted swiftly and submerged his body underground.


    He pushed his body to the limit and rapidly swam all the way toward the bandit before hastily rising from the ground with his sword pointed upwards.


    "W-What-"


    The bandit heard a shocked exmation of Roven from behind him, but he ignored it and focused on a non-vital point on Steve''s body to stab.


    "Sqwelchh!"


    As he was just about to bring his sword down, a shortsword prated his back and emerged out from his belly, meeting the tip of his own handheld sword.


    "Huh!?"


    The bandit groaned in bewilderment, ncing at the blood-stained sword poking out from his stomach just when he was about to injure the boy.


    Turning around sluggishly, the bandit caught sight of a silver-haired boy kneeling behind him while holding the sword that was still pierced into him.


    "Y-You-", realizing the cause of the pain, the bandit widened his eyes in anger before going berserk.


    "HOW DARE YOU-!"


    He bellowed furiously and tightened his fists before sending a punch to Felix''s face.


    ''Dodge!''


    Swiftly using an Agility Burst, Felix retreated backwards to a corner and avoided the punch, which slightly shattered the air.


    The bandit didn''t have the patience to get surprised at the boy''s quick speed as he angrily jumped at Felix without any care for the sword stabbed into him.


    His thoughts were not stable at the moment as he had seen a sword piercing anding out of his body, and if it were not for the potion he had used, he wouldn''t be able to survive that attack.


    "Shit! Why is he not hurt from my attack?!", Felix shouted speechlessly.


    "Be careful Felix, that guy drank some ck vial potion. Your normal attacks do not affect him."


    Holding himself against the wall, Roven warned him even though he had a lot of questions to ask the boy.


    ''ck vial potion? Wait-! Isn''t that the same trick those dark guild''s grunts at the Arena did?''


    Realising that fact, Felix became serious about the situation and readied himself for their sh.


    ''Whatever the case, I''ve got to pay this guy for hurting Steve and kidnapping Eric....


    Narrowing his eyes, Felix focused as the passive skill Unanimity gave him a rxed mind and pondered a n to deal with him.


    The bandit jumped beside Felix and shed his sword, intending to kill the boy who hurt him.


    With no weapon in hand, Felix didn''t try blocking or counterattacking, and instead simply dodged the attack with an Agility Burst.


    ''I can''t use too much of this skill, or else I''ll get tired.''


    After dodging the attack, Felix moved near to the bandit and held onto his shortsword, which was pierced into the bandit''s body, before using his skill Corrosion.


    An invisible baleful energy rushed out from within Felix''s body, which he controlled and sent into the bandit''s body with the sword as the bridge.


    The already bloody eyes of the bandit turned redder when he felt an infuriating pain rotting his insides.


    "Aghh- Aaaghhh!"


    He screamed in agony, unable to cope with the harmful energy seeping into his body, and iled his arms around forcibly to push away the boy.


    Felix got hit by the bandit''s powerful arm on the chin as he flew away, and crashed on the ground, clutching his face.


    "Y-You..what did you do to me!?"


    Shouted the bandit in anger and with a hint of fear in his voice.


    The pain he felt just now was something he had never felt in his whole life. Even with the strength boosted by the drug potion, he thought he couldn''t handle being under that terrible energy for more than a minute.


    The bandit grabbed the shortsword that was impaled into his stomach and threw it out towards a far corner so that the boy wouldn''t get it back.


    On the side, Felix was back on his feet with blood leaking from out from his mouth and nose.


    ''It''s as I thought, Corrosion works on him just like how it worked on that monster turned human from Arena, but it''s too dangerous if I get into a close range with him....''


    Felix frowned as he deliberated on a better way to deal with the Rank 2 bandit.


    But he couldn''t continue his thoughts as the bandit rushed towards him with an outraged face.


    Felix gritted his teeth and decided it was better to go all out at the moment without holding back anymore because there was no time for him toe up with a better n.


    ''I''ll deal with the consequencester!''


    Raising his hands forward, Felix hurriedly used the skill Earth Spikes and created many spikes to attack the bandit.


    "Swishh!!"


    Many rocky and sharp des arose from the ground around the bandit and quickly besieged him in all directions.


    The running bandit was shocked when suddenly the earth below him trembled and many spikes attacked his body.


    "Aagh!!"


    A few parts of his body were slit from the sharp spikes, inflicting bloody wounds here and there.


    Widening his eyes, the bandit hurriedly dodged the iing spikes and jumped out from there as he nced at Felix with an astonished face.


    "N-No way....even you are a mage?!"


    The bandit muttered in a state of bewilderment as mages were very rare, and this team had two of them.


    Felix didn''t reply, and used this chance, when the bandit was still shocked, toe up with a new skill to defeat the enemy.


    ''System, how many skill points do I have?''


    [Ding!]


    [Skill Points: 480.]


    ''Alright, now what kind of skill should I create?'', he pondered while staying on guard against the bandit.


    There was not much time left before the bandit attacked him again, so he furrowed his brows and quickly thought of a solution.


    ''Wait- can''t I just pretend to be a mage then?''


    Felix didn''t forget the bandit''s question, who asked whether he was a mage or not.


    ''Eric has the ability to conjure fireballs as a mage, so it shouldn''t be strange for me to manipte the earth or something given that I already have some simr skills...''


    Coming to this point, Felix easily came up with a few skills that were rted to Earth, imagining their power and tried creating all of them.


    ''System, create all these skills.''


    [Processing the skill''s power scale....grading the skills....estimating the possible points required.....skills sessfully moduled.]


    [Ding!]


    [Skill Name: Quicksand


    Description:


    The user can create a quicksand, where the targeted area softens and liquefies, transforming into a viscous state which traps the enemy and sinks them deeper the more they struggle.


    The skill''s power depends on the user''s mental strength and concentration.


    Cost: 180 skill points]


    [Do you wish to use 180 skill points and create the skill ''Quicksand''?]


    [Ding!]


    [Skill Name: Dust st


    Description:


    The skill allows the user to release a sudden burst ofpressed dust and debris, creating a shockwave that knocks back enemies, obscures vision and inflicts damage.


    Cost: 110 skill points.]


    [Do you wish to use 110 skill points and create the skill ''Dust st''?]


    [Ding!]


    [Skill Name: Terra Drain


    Description:


    Allows the user to draw the earth''s energy to replenish stamina and vitality while absorbing nutrients and minerals from the soil to heal wounds.


    Cost: 120 skill points.]


    [Do you wish to use 120 skill points and create the skill ''Terra Drain''?]


    At once, the system disyed to him the information of all the three skills he thought of just now.


    ''Damn, these all are amazing....''


    Raising his lips at all these new skills that he could afford, Felix gave in to his greed and didn''t waste any time before creating them.


    ''System, quickly create all these skills.''


    [Affirmative.]


    The system replied before more notifications came one by one.


    [Ding!]


    [Sessfully created the skill ''Quicksand''.]


    [Ding!]


    [Sessfully created the skill ''Dust st''.]


    [Ding!]


    [Sessfully created the skill ''Terra Drain''.]


    After creating all the three skills, Felix smirked evilly as he imagined some exciting ways he would deal, or rather y, with the Rank 2 bandit now.


    The bandit on the other hand remained in his previous state of shock, finding it hard to ept that some random kids had the potential to be a Mage, unaware of the silent turn of the tables on the battlefield.


    =====

 Chapter 106: Using the New Skills.

    Now that Felix had created a few more skills that could help him in the battle, he felt a bit confident, so he straight up walked towards the bandit with a bold smile.


    The bandit raised his head, watching the boye closer, and turned back serious-faced as he knew he should handle his opponent cautiously.


    "So what if you''re a mage? I''ll knock you out just like how I did to your fireball teammate.", the bandit mocked trying to anger the boy.


    And that really did anger Felix, whose smile extended until his lips almost touched his ears, resulting in a strange expression on his face.


    "Well that''s too bad, I''m not the same as I was before...."


    His words confused Roven and the bandit, but Felix didn''t care as he raised his hands and created a few more spikes.


    ''Earth Spikes!''


    The bandit was attacked by the earth spikes from behind him, but he was prepared as the moment he saw Felix raise his hands, he jumped out of the way.


    ''This makes it much simpler.'', thought Felix as a n formed in his mind.


    He suddenly dashed forward, getting near to the bandit, who in turn raised his sword to initiate an attack.


    But when Felix was about three meters away from the bandit, he used another one of his skills.


    ''Dust st!''


    A sudden mini storm of dust and debris, made up of sand and rocks got created out of nowhere which sted off onto the bandit.


    "Shit-!"


    The bandit cursed at the new skill, and quickly raised his arms to defend his eyes and face from the sand attack.


    The mini dust storm hit the bandit, the rocks inflicting small cuts on his body and pushing him a few meters away.


    Felix used this chance when the bandit was covering his eyes to use another skill.


    ''Silent Steps!''


    A few secondster, the bandit lowered his bloodied arms and surveyed the area with narrowed eyes.


    "Hmm? Where did he go?", he muttered.


    The bandit looked around, but except for Roven and the fallen Steve, he couldn''t find anyone else.


    Hiding in a corner away from the bandit''s sight, Felix stood frozen as he healed himself.


    ''Terra Drain.''


    A dense earthly energy rushed into him starting from his legs, and spread all over his body rejuvenating his stamina and healing his minor wounds.


    This skill worked only when he was standing still, so he hid from the bandit as he couldn''t battle and heal himself at the same.


    Some secondster, he could feel that he had gained some stamina back to use more of his skills, and the bandit was also getting impatient while slowly moving towards Steve.


    ''Let''s do this.''


    Felix held his sword that he had picked up along the way and sprinted towards the bandit.


    The skill ''Silent Steps'' was still activated, so the bandit didn''t realise him getting closer.


    Felix quickly arrived beside the bandit and swung his sword, attacking the red line that appeared on the bandit''s arm.


    "Squelch"


    Before the bandit could even react, his arm separated from his body as blood flooded out.


    "AAAGHHHH!!"


    Even with the use of the potion, the bandit could feel the horrible pain when his arm got cut out from his body.


    Felix didn''t stop and used another skill.


    ''Quicksand!''


    The ground beneath the bandit transformed and turned aqueous, slowly sinking his body.


    Felix retreated backwards to not alert the bandit and made him lower his guard for a moment.


    Clenching his half arm, the bandit gritted his teeth in pain, but the potion''s power was healing and slowly regenerating his arm back.


    At this time, the bandit was afraid of losing sight of the boy again, so he remained frozen in his spot while raising his senses to not let the boy hide away.


    But with the agonising pain in his arms and the battle tension from the boy''s abilities, the bandit failed to realise his legs gradually sinking into the soft ground.


    Felix knew that it was just a matter of moments before he defeated the bandit, so he walked over to Steve and checked his health.


    His face turned dark when he saw Steve''s current state.


    The boy was unconscious with his eyes closed, and his clothes were bloodied around his chest and stomach where there were some terrible wounds.


    Bending down, Felix sighed in relief when he felt the boy still had healthy breathing and his heartbeats were also normal.


    ''You''re a tough nut to crack, Steve.'', he smiled.


    "How is he?", Roven limped beside them and asked with concern.


    "Nothing to worry. He''ll be fine after we give him some potions and heal him at the guild."


    Felix muttered before standing up and turning toward the bandit as it was time he ended it.


    "But before that, we''ll have to deal with him."


    Roven had a nervous expression, but seeing the confident look on Felix''s face, he calmed down and watched him curiously.


    By now, the bandit already had his arm grown back with the miraculous power of the potion and was ready to crush the boy.


    "You were just luckyst time, don''t think I''ll give you another chance to hurt me again.", the bandit hissed with a twisted face.


    Felix nodded calmly and walked towards the bandit at a slow pace.


    He wasn''t in a hurry as the bandit was already trapped in his palms with no way out for him.


    Watching the boy''s reaction, the bandit frowned. Remembering his past mistake, he stayed focused on Felix, making sure not to lose sight of him again.


    Suddenly, Felix dashed forward while raising his empty hand.


    ''Earth Spikes!''


    Several spikes emerged from the ground and attacked the bandit.


    Already prepared, the bandit dodged the attack, or at least tried to, but he found that he couldn''t move his body at all.


    "W-What the hell is this!!"


    He widened his eyes in shock when he lowered his head and saw that half of his legs were deep within the earth.


    Before he could realise his situation, many spikes hit him from all directions, piercing into his body as he remained still.


    "Kughh."


    He spurted out blood while being unable to dodge any of the spikes which punctured his body with many bloody holes.


    Felix didn''t waste this chance as he jumped ahead with an Agility Burst before arriving behind the bandit, and stabbed his shortsword into his back.


    The bandit couldn''t block or dodge the attack as his whole body was held tightly by the earth spikes, so Felix easily stabbed him.


    After stabbing him, he pushed his sword deeper as the bandit tried to resist, but then he used the most critical skill.


    ''Corrosion!''


    The baleful energy rushed out from his body and prated the bandit with the sword as a bridge, destroying and corroding the bandit''s insides.


    "AAAAAGGGGHHHHHH!!!!"


    The bandit howled loudly in pain, as he released his weapon and tightly grasped the shortswording out from his chest.


    The pain he was feeling right now was a hundred times more than what he felt when the spikes stabbed him, causing him to lose his mind as he couldn''t even resist the attack or the pain.


    "NOOO!! LET GOOO!!! AAAGHHH!!"


    His screams continued as Felix had a content smile on his face from the bandit''s suffering.


    "This is what you get for hurting Eric and Steve."


    Atst, Felix concentrated all of the corrosive energy and released it endlessly, directly into the bandit''s heart.


    The bandit grew paler, and a few secondster, he stopped shouting as his arms fell lifelessly and he lost the light in his eyes.


    [Ding!]


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 100 skill points.]


    Hearing the chime from the system, Felix let go of his shortsword and fell on the ground in exhaustion.


    He took deep breaths as using all those skills had taken a toll on him, which his current Zero Rank body couldn''t yet handle.


    Roven walked over as he nced at the cold and dead body of the bandit, before muttering in disbelief.


    "I can''t believe you actually killed a Rank 2 being...."


    Roven couldn''t believe if he was just seeing things or if it was the reality.


    Felix did not only kill someone one rank higher, but two ranks higher than his own, and if people came to know this, then he won''t be just regarded as a genius but a goddamn monster.


    Giving an awkward smile, Felix got up to his feet as he suggested.


    "I know you have a lot of questions, but before that we have to heal Steve and also rescue Eric from their hideout. So let''s leave that forter, alright?"


    Roven nodded seriously and asked as he nced worriedly at Steve''s injured body.


    "Do you have a n? I don''t think it''ll be easy for us to do all this."


    Closing his eyes for a second, Felix pondered briefly about the situation and quickly arrived at a solution.


    He opened his eyes and told his n.


    "I got it! You will carry Steve back to the inn and get our carriage to the gates."


    Roven curiously responded with a question.


    "And what are you going to do?"


    Felix raised his lips and replied in a confident tone.


    "I''m going to rescue Eric.....and raid the bandit''s hideout."

 Chapter 107: Bandits Hideout.

    Roven was running towards the inn while carrying Steve on his back, all the while cautiously ncing around the streets of the town for any signs of the bandits.


    ''It seems that there''s not a big number of bandits in total. This is good for us, but I hope Felix and Eric remain safe there....'', Roven worried as he crossed the empty and deserted alleys.


    Before escaping with Steve from the scene, he had tried asking Felix some questions, but the boy had refused to answer any of them as they had to rescue Eric and leave this town before anything else.


    ''Whatever secrets you have Felix,.....I just hope they won''t bring trouble to you.'', he pondered as he remembered the mysterious abilities of the boy.


    *****


    At the corner of a dark street in the middle of Wuller Town.


    A silver-haired boy carefully peeked at the heavily guarded building, resembling a noble manor while sneaking in the shadows of the alleyways.


    He had found his way to the bandit''s hideout by using shbacks on the Rank 2 bandit and the several other bandit''s corpses he met along the way.


    ''That building looks too good to be some bandit''s hideout.....'', he mused while keeping guard of his surroundings.


    The building was of three levels, with the ground level being surrounded by many bandits who were lurking around randomly.


    The upper levels had tightly closed-off windows, showing the strict security maintained by the bandit for their hideout.


    ''Should I take out the bandits one by one? Or should I just sneak into the building from underground?''


    Felix contemted his next course of action, taking into ount his strength and Eric''s safety being a hostage.


    As he stayed in the shadows thinking of a suitable way, a suddenmotion in front of the building caught his attention.


    "You thieves! Give me back my horse! You can not just steal everything you want!!"


    An old man with a long beard shouted tiredly while pointing his finger at the building.


    "Khekeke you old geezer, of course we can steal anything we want. Why do you think we''re called bandits then?", a thin banditughed as he walked to the old man with his weapon.


    "It seems we''re being a bitzy at our jobs, now that even an old man can mock us so openly.", another bandit with a scar muttered as he quickly passed by the thin bandit and approached the old man.


    "Hey wait, I was about to deal with him! Why don''t you patrol somewhere else?!", argued the thin bandit holding the other bandit''s shoulder.


    "Huh!? Shut up you punk! Let me kill this old man for making a scene."


    "No! I''ll be the one to kill him..."


    "Get away dude..."


    The two bandits quarrelled while throwing their spit on each other''s faces.


    Meanwhile, the old man started sweating buckets as he heard them casually decide his execution.


    ''Sorry my dear horses, my life is more precious for me....''


    He slowly retreated backwards a few steps, and seeing that the two bandits were still fighting, he made a run for his life.


    The two bandits perked up their ears when they heard hurried footsteps going away, and when they turned around, they widened their eyes in shock to see the man escaping.


    "Shit that geezer is running away!"


    "Catch that asshole!"


    The two bandits stopped their argument and quickly chased after the old man who was running away like he had turned into the horse they had stolen.


    A pair of red eyes watched all this happen and prayed that the old man sessfully escaped.


    ''Thank you geezer.....you just gave me a brilliant idea.''


    Felix thanked him as he nced at the backyard of the bandit''s hideout building.


    Starting his n, he swiftly submerged into the ground and swam his way to the backyard of the hideout, where a bunch of horses could be seen gathered in a stable, without any other bandits standing guard.


    Poking half of his body out of the ground, Felix raised his hands and used his skill.


    ''Dust st!''


    He manipted the mini dust storm to have only sand and particles instead of rocks to not harm the horses and sent it forth to the stables.


    The mini storm hit the horses, dusting into their eyes and nose as they struggled in panic.


    "Neighh!!!"


    The many horses jumped about creating a stampede and ran out from the stable into the streets in chaos.


    "H-Hey, what''s going on over there!?"


    Some of the bandits noticed themotion and ran out of the building, stunned at the mess that the horses were making.


    "Hurry and calm all of them!"


    "Don''t let them run out and escape into the streets!!"


    The bandits cursed as everyone chased after the horses and tried to settle themotion.


    At some corner of all this mayhem, a small bump in the ground travelled its way into the building, which nobody took notice of.


    Felix entered the bandit''s hideout, or actually the ground beneath the hideout, and carefully stuck out his hand, before using some shbacks on the nearby objects to look for clues regarding Eric''s position.


    After some time, he found his way to an underground prison that was beneath the building and found Eric and some other people locked up and unconscious inside a huge cage.


    He approached the boy and made sure that there were no injuries or any problems with him before he started pondering.


    ''I have to take him out from here...but how?''


    Felix had no idea how he would be able to take Eric along with him and escape from the bandit''s hideout.


    If he was alone then there would''ve been no problem with his Earth Swimming skill to escape, but he couldn''t use the same on Eric.


    But before that, Felix decided to deal with the situation as there were still some problems there.


    There were four bandits standing guard in this underground prison, whom he had passed by from within the ground.


    Two guards were near the door, while the other two were patrolling around the prison.


    ''It''s only four of them, there wouldn''t be any trouble taking them out....''


    Felix sneaked behind one of the bandits who was patrolling the prison and when they reached a dark corner, he swiftly emerged out and used his Singr sh technique on the man''s neck.


    "Sqwelchh!"


    The man''s body and head separated, but Felix quickly caught both of them with a disgusted face andid them in a dark corner.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]


    He did the same with the other bandit, who was a second away from realising his partner''s disappearance and alerting the other, but unfortunately, he too died the same way with his body separated into two parts.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]


    ''Now for thest two.....''


    Felix slowly moved towards the two bandits who were standing near the door and chatting.


    Suddenly, the door of the underground prison opened up from outside and another four bandit came in as one of them stated.


    "Alright, it''s time to shift."


    The two bandits guarding the door grinned and nodded as they called out.


    "Came back you two, it''s time for lunch."


    They waited for some seconds, but no one came or replied back to them, except for a silver-haired boy beneath the underground who released a sigh.


    ''Well, another four it is then.....''

 Chapter 108: Mission Failed.

    The four new bandits slowly walked into the prison, chatting with themselves, while the other two bandits remained standing near the door, confused about the disappearance of their partners.


    "Huh, where did they go?", one of them muttered and walked deeper into the prison.


    The other bandit too followed as both of them reached the dark corner of the prison.


    Suddenly, both of them widened their eyes the moment they caught sight of their partners.


    "N-No...they wouldn''t...., right?", one of them stuttered with a strange expression.


    The other bandit also gulped as he took a step back nervously.


    "L-Leave them be, it''s their choice. We''d better not involve ourselves with them....."


    In the dark corner of the prison, they could see their two partners lying intimately atop each other.


    And even though only their lower bodies were visible in the dark, it wouldn''t take a genius to guess what activity they were doing.


    The two of them turned their backs to their ''partners'' and waited patiently for them to finish.


    "But still.....aren''t they being a bit too silent?", the first bandit asked awkwardly while scratching his head.


    The other bandit twisted his face and replied with a sour tone.


    "What do I know they''re doing? It must be some weird fetish they may have. So just be silent and don''t ask me all these strange questions, cuz I for one, am straight as hell."


    The four bandits at the door were confused when they saw the two bandits acting strangely and covering the dark corner of the prison, but they didn''t mind and gave them some time.


    Meanwhile, Felix had swam his way to the prison''s door and was slowly emerging out from behind the four bandits.


    Nobody noticed when he surfaced on the ground, so he slowly closed the door tightly and locked it from inside.


    Turning around, he raised his lips and used his recently made skill.


    ''Dust st!''


    He quickly created a mini storm of rocks and sand, starting from the door, and sted it towards the direction of the four bandits.


    "Wait- Do you hear that?"


    "Huh, where''s this dusting from?"


    Suddenly, a torrent of dust particles rushed towards them, catching them off their guard, and hitting them before they could react.


    "Aaahhh!!"


    "W-What''s this?!"


    The four bandits were attacked by rocks and sand that inflected minor wounds on their bodies and pushed them a few meters backwards.


    One of the bandits even fell down as he struggled and painfully blocked the violent mini-storm.


    The other two bandits standing in the dark corner jumped up when they heard the loud noise at the door and hurriedly walked over to check out what was happening.


    All they could see when they arrived at the scene were sharp rocky spikes emerging out from the ground and piercing into the bodies of the four bandits without any interference.


    "W-What-!?"


    They paused for a few seconds as they couldn''t believe what was happening in front of them.


    Just a few seconds ago, they were blocking the view of their partner''s indecent activity from being seen by the four bandits, and now they were witnessing the four bandits getting killed ruthlessly.


    ncing ahead in panic, the two bandits saw a silver-haired boy casually walking towards them while taking out his shortsword.


    "Y-You!! Who are you?? What are you doing here!?", one of the bandits shouted while taking out his weapon in panic.


    The other bandit too followed suit as he wielded his weapon with his back drenched in sweat.


    Felix didn''t waste his time entertaining the two of them as he shed forward with an Agility Burst and swung his sword, detaching the two shock-faced heads from their bodies.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]


    As the bandit''s bodies fell onto the ground with a thud, Felix nced around the prison and nodded with a satisfied smile.


    "Now that was some quick skill points."


    The unexpected arrival of the four bandits improved his mood by a little as he gained over 80 skill points from this brief moment.


    Stepping away from the bandit''s corpses, he made his way towards Eric who was leaning against the wall in a huge cage.


    Felix opened the cage after shing down on the weak lock, walked inside and carried Eric out on his shoulder.


    ''I''ve got to try that method I guess...''


    He deliberated after he hade up with an idea from the fight against these bandits.


    Moving towards the edge of the prison, he ced Eric safely on the floor and started to submerge into the ground.


    ''Earth Swimming.''


    Now that he was underground, he swam to the wall and made his way up to the prison ceiling by swimming vertically.


    Arriving at some part of the ceiling, Felix started using another of his skills.


    ''Earth Spikes.''


    He created the spikes in such a way that they emerged out of from the ceiling and then also drilled back into the ceiling itself, forming a hole in the ceiling.


    Felix continued to plunge spikes into the ceiling until he felt a bit exhausted and there was yet to be a hole that opened up to the surface.


    He stopped for some time and rejuvenated back his stamina by using the Terra Drain skill.


    While still being within the earth, he could feel that he was gaining more energy than when he had done it standing on the earth.


    ''This''ll be helpful....''


    Sometimeter, he stopped using the skill and returned to drilling the ceiling with the earth spikes.


    As he sent forth another spike to the highest spot, a slight ray of sunshine passed through a tiny hole.


    Felix smiled at that and quickly conjured a few more spikes that made the holerger.


    ''Alright! This looks enough.''


    After creating a holerge enough for the two of them to escape from the ceiling of the prison, Felix swam back to the ground and extended both of his hands out from the earth.


    While the rest of his body remained submerged in the ground, his hands that were out caught Eric by the clothes and pulled him upwards when Felix swam back towards the ceiling.


    Using the hole he had made in the ceiling, he extracted himself and Eric from the prison room, emerging onto the surfacend.


    "Haa finally out..."


    Taking a deep breath, Felix stretched his body in exhaustion from all the fighting and nced around at his surroundings.


    "As I calcted, the prison was situated beneath an emptynd.", he smiled as rescuing Eric openly from the building would have put him in a dangerous position.


    ''Sigh even though I want to steal the bandit''s treasures, I guess there''s no time for that now....''


    He hade across a secured room while he was swimming beneath the building searching for Eric and had decided toe back and steal some treasure from there, but he couldn''t put his friends at risk for some material wealth, so he rejected that idea.


    ''Whatever.....it''s not like only the bandits have treasures.'', he grinned evilly remembering the ones sitting above these bandits.


    Carrying Eric on his back, Felix escaped from that ce and rushed back towards the inn to find the other two of his teammates.


    But before he ran away, he sneaked back to the backyard of the building and left behind a surprise for the bandits, and then dashed away before the they could chase after them four of them.


    Luckily for the boys, the Rank 2 bandit was selfish and had not yet informed his leader of their arrival in the town, so except for the mess the boys had caused, there would be no evidence of their presence here.


    Finding his way back to the inn proved to be a lot difficult for Felix, but he eventually reached there after using a dozen shbacks on the nearby objects.


    Outside the inn''s building, Roven was anxiously walking around in circles beside their carriage, and when he saw that Felix had arrived, he quickly checked upon the both of them and sighed in relief when he saw that they didn''t have any injuries.


    "Thank god you both are fine, I was so worried you wouldn''t be able to escape from there.", he smiled.


    "Roven, we have to hurry and leave the town now. There''s no guarantee when the bandits maye looking for us."


    Felix nodded at him and warned as he ced Eric on their carriage beside Steve who was already resting unconscious there.


    "You''re right, I''ve already informed the inn''s boss about the situation and he has given me another letter to deliver to the guild. We''ll be officially discontinuing this mission and returning back to the guild now."


    Roven turned serious and jumped onto the carriage, tending to the horses before giving them a whipping.


    "Neighh.."


    Felix also climbed onto the carriage from the behind as Roven gave the horses the order to move.


    Their carriage left the inn''s conpound, and moved its way to the gate of the town where they had entered from.


    The eery and silent town remained as it was as the four boys failed their mission of saving it from the bandits.


    When the carriage reached the gates, the two of them saw that it was closed and the guard was standing before it.


    Felix moved forward inside the carriage and raised his hands outwards before using his skill.


    ''Earth Spikes!''


    The spikes emerged out from the ground and broke apart the gates, including stabbing into the cunning guard and throwing him away.


    Their carriage then easily escaped out from Wuller Town, moving at a quick speed back to Edenmont City.

 Chapter 109: Camping Out.

    He could feel his surroundings shaking unevenly and hear some shouting as he slowly opened his eyes in exhaustion.


    There was the neighing of the horses and someone shouting instructions as the boy looked around in confusion.


    ''Hmm, what''s happening here?''


    The boy sat himself up on what seemed like a moving wooden vehicle and rubbed his sleepy eyes to take a serious look around.


    "Hey, you''re finally awake, Eric! Hurry up and drink these potions, then help me attack those bandits!"


    Eric, who had woken up after getting knocked out, frowned as he recalled his memories before he had lost consciousness and muttered in confusion.


    "Huh wait-! Wasn''t I....defeated by that Rank 2 bandit? What happened....after that? How am I....here? Also,....where are we now?!"


    Felix paused for a second as he nced nkly at Eric and replied with a strange face.


    "What are you saying, Eric? We''re still on our way to Wuller Town. Don''t you remember taking a nap along with Steve after departing from Edenmont City?"


    Eric widened his eyes in shock after hearing what Felix said. He opened his mouth to say something but stopped when Roven screamed loudly from the front of the carriage.


    "Stop ying around Felix! The horses are getting tired from running, so quickly handle those bandits! And you, Eric, hurry and drink those potions before shooting your fireballs at those bandits chasing after us!"


    Seeing that Roven had revealed him out, Felix scratched his head and patted Eric on the shoulder as he muttered with a sigh.


    "Alright Eric, it''s time we get down to business. I''ll exin you the situationter, but now we''ll have to deal with the problem we''re facing at the moment, so quickly drink these potions."


    Saying so, he took out some vials of potions from the bag and forcefully chugged them into Eric''s mouth.


    The boy couldn''t resist as he had also opened his mouth to argue, but then it got filled with the potion that he drank under Felix''s persistence.


    After making Eric drink the many potions, Felix stood up in the carriage and patted his back before pointing behind their hurriedly moving carriage.


    "Look over there."


    Eric turned his eyes there before bing stunned and jumped up to his feet when he saw that a few aggressive-looking bandits were chasing after them on horses.


    "We gotta stop them now.", Felix muttered before moving toward the rear of the carriage.


    The reason the bandits were still alive was because his spikes were not that urately hitting the constantly moving horses or the bandits, as a result of which no bandit had fallen yet.


    ''Hmm, to think there were still so many bandits hiding here and there...''


    He thought, recalling the surprise he had left behind for them in the backyard of the bandit''s hideout.


    After themotion of the horses in the backyard with the mini dust storm, everything had returned to calm then, but before leaving, Felix had used the skill Quicksand in the stables and sunk the horses a few inches into the ground.


    He had done so to prevent them from chasing after their carriage in case they found out about them leaving the town, but it seemed that some bandits on patrol had gotten the news and had decided to catch them.


    Eric shook his head to throw off his sleepy mood and became serious as he drank another two potions beforeing to the rear of the carriage to stand beside Felix and unleashing his magic attack.


    "Fireballs!!"


    Raising his hands forward, he conjured many fireballs which increased the surrounding heat and flew through the air to hit the bandits riding on the horses.


    The bandits tried to dodge the attacks, but the fireballs were too fast, and the horses couldn''t move quickly, so they were sted by the fire one by one before none remained chasing behind their carriage.


    The carriage then safely moved onwards the road with a calm speed as the horses were a bit tired of running suddenly when the bandits had appeared.


    "Good job, Eric. Your fireballs are truly something else."


    Felix raised his thumb to the boy, though he was a bit regretful of the lost skill points from the few bandits.


    Eric nodded awkwardly at the praise and asked back in confusion.


    "So, do you mind telling me what happened until now?"


    He was feeling a bit left out and disoriented with everything that was happening around him, urging him to ask the truth about the situation.


    "Oh well, what happened was..."


    Felix told the boy to sit down and rx as he briefly told him about what happened after he was knocked out.


    Roven at the front, who was steering the carriage, had a forced smile as he listened to the slightly fabricated story that Felix was telling Eric.


    ''Until when will you hide your abilities, Felix.....''


    He remembered what Felix had told him when they had just left the town, about him being a mage and having the ability to manipte the earth to some extent.


    Roven wasn''t sure if what he said was the truth or not, but he didn''t dwell on it much as he knew that everyone had their own secrets.


    Inside the carriage, while Steve remained unconscious, Eric learned what had happened from Felix and then sat down in a corner as he silently gazed out at the forest that was starting to get a bit dark.


    Meanwhile, Felix took out a health potion and moved towards Steve sitting him up against the wooden wall, before chugging down the potion inside his mouth.


    Laying him back down as the boy still seemed unconscious, Felix went ahead and sat beside Roven at the front of the carriage.


    "How long till we reach the city?", he asked curiously.


    Roven sighed as he replied unsurely.


    "I cannot say for sure as we took a different route to avoiding across the bandits on the road....but based on my calctions, I can predict that we won''t be able to reach Edenmont City by today."


    There was a grim tone in his voice as he said those words, because the earlier they reached the city, the safer they could feel and then Steve could also receive the healing he desperately needed at the guild.


    As they had taken a different route, it would take them at least 5 hours to reach Edenmont City, unlike the 3 hours when they had traversed to Wuller town.


    Felix had a pensive look on his face as he nced behind at Steve and the forest they were in.


    ''It seems we''ll be camping out in the forest....''


    He calcted as the sun gradually set from the horizon, thest rays of the day shining upon the leaves of the tall trees and the shadows of the branches drawing ethereal designs on the ground.


    Sitting at the front, the two of them spent the time doing some small talk as mostly it was Felix who asked Roven questions regarding many things, while Roven answered patiently realising the boy was still not that knowledgeable.


    ''Maybe he didn''t get any education.....''


    Their carriage moved on unhurried as the horses were tired from the two-way journey, with the four boys rxing inside as the weather turned cooler.


    After two hours, Roven surveyed the ce they had reached and stopped their carriage at a clearing with a small creek nearby.


    He decided to camp out at this ce and jumped out of the carriage before tying the horses to a tree and giving them something to eat.


    Felix and Eric too moved out of the carriage as they started to make a bonfire and set up some tents for them to sleep.


    While Steve slept inside the carriage, the three coordinated with each other and finished making a small camp.


    After that, they split up the chores and did their jobs.


    Eric was given the task to catch some fish from the creak for dinner, Roven would keep a lookout at the camp while setting up the tools for cooking and Felix was tasked with surveying the area for any monsters or beings.


    The two boys were a bit confused as to why the boy had persisted in surveying the area, but Felix just gave a light smile as he thought.


    ''It''s time to collect some more skill points.....''


    As everyone went by their chores, Felix grabbed a burning wooden stick from the bonfire and walked away into the forest after giving the other two a nod.


    He expected to encounter some monsters nearby around the camp due to the fire they had ignited, but he didn''t find any of them even after making aplete round of the camp.


    ''Is it still too early?.....''


    Chewing on his lips, Felix nced at his teammates who were still busy with their work, and then turned his head towards the dark forest where only the slight moonlight of the three moons lit the ce.


    ''I won''t go far, only a few kilometres that''s it...'', he mused.


    Convincing himself after his desire took over his logical thoughts, Felix gave his teammates ast nce and stepped into the eery forest while holding his sword on his hips.


    He increased his speed a bit as his robe fluttered against the wind; the burning wooden stick in his hand shining his face, where an excited smile blossomed as the boy dived into the dense woonds.


    =====


    Ps:


    Write a review and help this novel with your opinions.

 Chapter 110: The Hunt.

    A few kilometres away from the camp the boys had set up.


    A lone wolf moved around the forest looking for any prey in the dark, its ck fur blending into the night except for its yellow eyes that shone hungrily.


    At this time, a pair of red eyes were staring at the wolf from above a tree.


    ''Isn''t that a Dark Wolf? It reminds me of my first night in this world.....''


    Felix recalled when he had followed a group of travellers to Edenmont City who had been ambushed by a wolf.


    ''Hmm, but only one wouldn''t be worth it....''


    He pondered for a while before he got an idea.


    ''I don''t know if it''ll work or not, but it wouldn''t hurt to give it a try.''


    Wielding his shortsword, Felix jumped out from the top of the tree and dived towards the dark wolf.


    The wolf perked up its ears when it heard the rush of wind above it, but it was toote to react as a de shined and stabbed into its head.


    "Khuwchkk"


    Blood spilt on the ground as Felix twisted his sword inside the wolf''s head and brought an end to its misery, causing more blood to fall.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]


    The wolf''s corpse dropped to the floor, and Felix held its furry leg before dragging it in a different direction.


    The blood of the wolf leaked on the ground like droplets of water, dyeing the forest red with an ironic smell as the boy, along with the corpse, walked around the forest.


    After some time, Felix stopped walking and let go of the wolf''s leg as a smile surfaced on his face when he noticed the many shiny yellow eyes staring at him from the dark.


    ''Blood always invites more blood, huh? Well, that works perfectly for me....''


    When the wolves hiding in the dark saw the dead body of their own kind, their eyes reddened as they howled towards the moon and rushed forward.


    ''One, two, three, four.....hmm, it seems there''s moreing....''  there was a faint smile on his face.


    He nced around seeing the wolves rushing in all his directions and got ready to confront the ones moving towards him.


    The moment some wolves got two meters near him, he snapped his fingers and used a skill.


    ''Earth Spikes.''


    Spikes emerged from the ground and attacked the wolves as they pierced their belly from below.


    Shocked at the sudden attack, the wolves couldn''t do anything as they hung on the spikes, and their blood sttered around, taking the lives of four of them.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]x4


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]x4


    The notifications buzzed in his ear as the boy''s eyes took a darker shade of red.


    ''That sounds great....but there''s more toe.''


    He dashed off towards the wolves, who grew wary of their lone opponent but attacked nevertheless as their mind turned bloodthirsty.


    Felix engaged in closebat with the wolves as it felt good to kill them using his sword, but he also didn''t like wasting time, so he asionally used his other skills too to kill them.


    The silent and eery forest turned into a frenzy battlefield as blood stained the ground along with the various spikes and quicksand emerging around the ce.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]x12


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]x12


    A few minutester, Felix stood in the middle of the seventeen wolf copses that he had ruthlessly killed.


    ''That was some nice warm-up. It got me 170 skill points as well...''


    He muttered while flicking off the blood from his sword and staring deeper into the forest.


    ''I wonder if there''s more wolves around here somewhere.''


    As he thought of his next action, Felix remembered he had to go back to the camp, or else his teammates might start worrying.


    ''This much blood should be enough for now, I''ll be back....'', he nced at the corpses with a pleasing smile and turned towards another direction before dashing away.


    There were sword marks on the trees that he had carved while arriving this deep into the forest as he knew he would lose the way, so he followed them back and made his way to the camp.


    Back at the camp, Eric and Roven were sitting on some rocks and roasting the fish on the bonfire while constantly ncing at the forest.


    "Where did he go? Isn''t he taking too long for just surveying the area...", muttered Eric in worry.


    Roven picked up a stick with roasted fish and ate it as he replied.


    "Don''t worry about him, I''m sure he''s just taking a stroll."


    Eric stood up and frowned as he retorted.


    "Why aren''t you worried? He''s just a newbie, and there''s no way he can survive if he ventures deep into the forest at night."


    Biting off a piece from the fish, Roven gave a forced smile as he thought.


    ''That''s where you''re wrong, Eric. Even though Felix is a newbie, he''s much stronger than us....''


    Suddenly, they heard a rustling noise from behind them.


    When the two of them turned to look there with their guards up, they saw Felix walking out from the bushes with his eyes focused on the roasted fishes.


    The boy walked over and grabbed a stick of fish before wolfing it down. He finished it and quickly took another one, all the while ignoring the other two boys.


    Eric sat down lethargically with a sigh of relief. He was scared just now thinking that the bandits or some strong monsters would attack them, but fortunately, it was just Felix.


    After experiencing aplete defeat against the bandits, Eric started doubting his powers, and every now and then, he would worry about the consequences of fighting against someone he couldn''t defeat.


    Although he was saved by his teammates, that happened after he was knocked out, in the moment when he was at his weakest.


    The three boys ate their dinner in silence as everyone was busy with their own thoughts, Eric worrying about his incapability, Roven nning for tomorrow''s journey, and Felix imagining his night adventure.


    After finishing their dinner, the boys handled the other chores and went to rest after making their beds.


    Roven and Eric would sleep in the tent, whereas Felix, along with the unconscious Steve, would sleep inside the closed carriage that was parked just beside the tent.


    *****


    In the middle of the night.....


    Amid the dark and bountiful forest with tall dense trees, a few animal''s lingering roars and buzzing of the insects could be heard.


    A small camp with a tent, a carriage, and a few horses could be seen near an extinguished bonfire.


    Suddenly, a pair of crystal ruby eyes opened up with a glint of anticipation inside the carriage.


    There was no sleepiness or tiredness in the boy''s eyes except for excitement with a hint of chaos deep within his pupils.


    ''It''s time....''


    Felix slowly got up after he had pretended to fall asleep in the carriage beside Steve and sneaked out of it in seconds.


    He had already activated his Silent Steps skill, so he didn''t alert anyone as he left the camp and tiptoed away while feeling a bit nervous doing something sneaky.


    As soon as he got some distance away from the camp, he rushed away, following the same way he had gone earlier.


    He quickly arrived at the ce where he had massacred the wolves, but the scene there made him feel dumbfounded.


    "They''re all gone....", he muttered in astonishment.


    Before him was a ce drenched with blood, but the shocking thing was that there were no corpses to be found in his sight, except for some signs of them being dragged away.


    Felix took a deep breath and made a round at the scene before finding evidence of different monsters leaving behind blood-stained footprints.


    ''It''s not just one type of monster. Many different monsters seem to have looted the corpses.''


    Staring at the many footprints moving in different directions, Felix analysed the shape and size of them to guess the monsters but then gave up doing that as it seemed prettyplicated.


    ''Guessing who the other monsters are is a stupid thing to do, instead of that I should just follow their footprints...'', he mused and then made his way towards the path that had thergest number of footprints.


    After some time, Felix lost the bloody footprints but still continued in that direction while leaving behind sword marks on the trees.


    A few minutester, he caught sight of a dozen strange and a new type of monster, walking ahead carrying some of the wolves'' corpses.


    He didn''t know the name of the monster race in front of him, so he asked the system in his mind.


    ''System, what kind of monster is that?''


    The system answered quickly.


    [The monster race in front of the host is called Gnolls, and all of them are at Rank 1.]


    Getting the system''s reply, Felix raised the corners of his lips as he lightly muttered without care.


    "Gnolls or whatever,...for me it''s all the same when I''m hunting."


    The boy had his eyes lit up ferociously he stared deep into the backs of the monsters, before proceeding to face them.

 Chapter 111: Suspicious Figure.

    Gnolls were a race that looked like a bipedal hyena with ferocious ws and short bodies.


    The gnolls in front of Felix trotted about in the forest, two of them each carrying a dark wolf''s corpse along them.


    Felix slowly neared to them using his Silent Steps skill and blended between them under the darkness of the night.


    ''They''repletely unaware of me....''


    He scratched his head, watching the short gnolls who were giving their everything and dragging the heavy wolves that were much bigger than their own size.


    In their dedicated and serious work, they didn''t notice a stranger among them who was curiously looking at their enthusiastic loot.


    ''Let''s just follow them for now.''


    He deliberated while keeping a bit of distance from the gnolls and kept his eye on them as they traversed through the forest.


    After a while, they came across another group of gnolls who ran happily andmunicated with them beforeing along.


    Some other patrol gnolls also arrived towards them, who all grinned hungrily and followed behind them too.


    ''Are they going to have a party or what?'', Felix wondered as the many gnolls jumped about and helped carry the wolves.


    Sometimeter, they finally arrived at arge area where many gnolls could be seen gathered around a huge rock with a t surface above it.


    And atop that rock stood a tall and mighty-looking gnoll whose figure gave off a powerful aura, looking at which Felix frowned seriously.


    ''Is that a Rank 2 gnoll? But why does it...look much stronger than the Rank 2 bandit....''


    While Felix hid behind a tree, taking in the scene, the gnolls that were carrying the wolves moved to the huge rock and ced the corpses there before prostrating towards the Rank 2 gnoll.


    The Rank 2 Gnoll nced at the weaker gnolls and the tribute they had offered it, and then gestured for them to carry it all near him.


    The gnolls did as he told them to do, and then the Rank 2 gnoll grsbbed and tore apart the corpses as it devoured them without leaving a hair.


    Felix took a gulp seeing the ferocious manner of the gnoll and weighed his set of actions.


    ''There''s around a hundred gnolls at this ce, making it a suitable hunting ground for me, but the presence of that Rank 2 gnoll is bugging me for some reason.....''


    He thought for some time while watching the gnolls surrounding their leader excitedly.


    A minuteter, all the gnolls separated as they left in their different patrol groups, leaving behind some gnolls at the ce, including the Rank 2 gnoll, who went to rest on the huge rock.


    ''This is much better. Now I''ll be able to hunt them separately without alerting their leader....'', he thought as his eyes lit up watching the gnolls go.


    He chose a group of ten gnolls and sneaked behind them as they moved into the forest while searching for some other prey.


    Felix waited patiently as the group of gnolls travelled far from their base so as to hunt them down when they had reached a bit of distance from their gathering site.


    Jumping from the shadows of one tree to the other, he eyed his prey as they wandered around in the forest.


    ''Here is good.''


    The gnolls had distanced themselves from their ce, so Felix walked out from the dark and faced them.


    Hearing the footsteps behind them because Felix had not used any of his skills, the gnolls turned around in shock and became alert.


    Their eyes reddened at the sudden appearance of a human being, and without wasting any time, they hungrily pounced on him with their ws out.


    ''Earth Spikes.''


    An unexpected attack from the ground caught them by surprise as sharp spikes pierced their lower bodies.


    Two gnolls were dead from that attack while the other few were injured slightly.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]x2


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]x2


    Four of the gnolls who were affected by the spikes reached beside Felix and shed their long ws at him, intending to kill him mercilessly.


    ''Agility Burst.''


    But their attacks passed through the air as a gush of wind passed by them, heading towards the injured gnolls.


    Felix arrived beside the injured gnolls in the blink of an eye, and before they could react, he unleashed his torrent of attacks.


    ''ck Horizon 2nd Technique: Striking des!''


    He danced between the gnolls while beautifully swinging his sword, captivating them who remained frozen at the quickness of his attack.


    Thin lines appeared on the many gnoll''s necks before their heads were sliced apart from their bodies within seconds, and they dropped dead on the ground headless.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]x4


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]x4


    Seeing the death of almost half of their patrolling team, the remaining gnolls got scared, but they overcame their fear as they howled towards the sky angrily.


    ''Typical monsters....''


    Shaking his head, Felix dashed using another Agility Burst and arrived in between the four gnolls while they were still howling.


    He brought an end to their animalistic behaviour by moving his sword in one swing as he beheaded their necks that were still raised up towards the sky howling.


    ''ck Horizon 1st Technique: Singr sh.''


    Blood sprayed out from the throats of the headless gnolls, illuminating the dark as their blood shined under the moonlight.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]x4


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]x4


    With the bodies of the four gnolls dropping down with a thud, all the gnolls had now been killed.


    Standing amid the corpses, Felix turned around and went back to their gathering ce.


    ''Let''s look for another patrol team...''


    He dashed onwards as he was not yet satisfied with the amount of skill points he had gotten.


    This might be hisst chance to hunt outside the city before the guild war starts, because this mission''s result woulde to worry Miss Elsa, who wouldn''t allow him to leave the city again to keep him safe.


    So he decided to earn as many skill points as he could this time, so that it maye to help him in the near future.


    Rushing away, Felix reached back to the gnoll''s base following the hidden marks he had left behind, but he quickly hid himself against a tree when he noticed someone else other than the gnolls was there at the ce.


    ''Who''s that?'', he furrowed his brows while carefully peeking at the scene.


    Atop the huge rock, a man wearing a dark robe could be seen standing still in front of the Rank 2 gnoll, while the gnoll was practically grovelling at the man''s feet.


    As it in the middle of the night deep inside the forest, he felt a bit nervous about another human''s intervention, but his curiosity got the better of him.


    Felix felt the situation was strange, but he couldn''t hear or make out what was happening, so he used his Silent Steps skill and moved towards another tree that was near to them.


    The moment he reached behind the tree, the man standing on the huge rock turned his head around suddenly and waved his hand at the tree.


    "Swishh!"


    A de ofpressed aura formed out of nowhere and shed at the tree, cutting it in half with its wooden pieces flying about.


    The man nced briefly at the destroyed tree, checking for any anomaly, but then shook his head.


    "That''s weird, I certainly felt someone there.....",  he muttered in a calm tone.


    Turning back, the man looked at the shivering gnoll before him and talked with himself.


    "Hmm, this one is not so bad. It''s better than those useless goblins, I guess."


    The man went back to what he was doing earlier, but a few meters away from him, a certain boy was sweating heavily under the ground.


    ''Holy shit that was close!!'', Felix cursed in his mind while slowly and carefully swimming inside the ground as he moved away from that ce.


    When he moved a bit farther away, he poked his head out and peeked at the distant figure of the man along with the trembling gnoll.


    ''That was dangerous! What kind of attack even was that? But before that, how did that guy notice me with my skill activated??''


    He wondered before a crazy thought entered his mind, which made him widen his eyes.


    ''N-No way....he''s not someone from Rank 4, right?'', Felix took a gulp in fear.


    Realising this fact, he submerged back into the ground and moved further away from that ce.


    ''Better safe than sorry.''


    He came out of the ground after moving a bit further away from that ce and pondered about the situation.


    ''To appear this deep inside the forest in the middle of the night while wearing a dark robe...I can only think of the dark guilds who would do such a thing, but for what purpose?''


    Coming to this conclusion, Felix frowned for some time before then he rxed back and shook his head.


    ''There''s no point in dwelling on the reason. What I should do now is get further away from this ce and hunt somewhere else.''


    Felix chose a different direction after calcting for a few seconds and ran towards there hoping he''ll meet some other monsters, instead of some hidden masters.


    On the other hand, after the dark robed man finished doing his work, he slowly floated above the ground and disappeared into the distance, moving into the same direction that Felix had chosen to go.


    That night, many things were bound to happen, some of which would bring many troubles to a certain silver-haired boy.

 Chapter 112: The Tent.

    Under the moonlight, a faint shadow of a person could be seen hiding behind a tree.


    Felix, who had been searching around the forest for any prey after running away from the gnoll''s ce, was now staring at a group of busy kobolds while hiding from them.


    ''Hmmm, to think they''re eating my hunt.....''


    He thought while peeking at the kobolds who were ravishing their mouths with the wolves'' corpses that he had previously killed.


    There were a total of 8 kobolds banded together under the shade of a tree who were bickering among themselves for the most meat.


    ''Well, the least I can do is give you ast meal I guess.''


    Felix waited patiently for the kobolds to finish their meal, and a few minutester when they were resting on the ground with their bloating bellies upwards, he revealed himself with a skill.


    ''Quicksand.''


    The ground beneath the kobolds suddenly started softening into a sludge, which confused them as they tried to get up and check it, but they were a bit toote.


    "Khiikh?"


    The kobolds eximed in shock as they witnessed their bodies seamlessly sink into the earth.


    Atst, they tried to resist it by raising their feet, but their legs were already too deep into the ground. Their struggles turned into waste and even proved to be useless as it instead sunk them deeper into the quicksand.


    Felix felt that it was enough so he walked over casually with his sword, but his presence terrified the kobolds as they finally realised their group was under attack.


    "Khweak! Khiiwek!"


    Their helpless screams echoed in the silent forest as a swift de passed through their necks and beheaded them, while their lower bodies remained stuck into the ground.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]x8


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]x8


    Felix stood amidst the peculiarly arranged kobold corpses, their upper bodies reclined while their lower halves disappeared into the earth.


    Turning around, he started walking away from the bloodied ce to look for some other monsters to hunt.


    He picked up his speed and dashed towards a direction, all the while ncing around for more monsters in sight.


    The wind howled in the chilly night with the moonlight filtering through the branches of the tall trees as his steps remained unheard throughout the way.


    Felix roamed the forest covertly using the darkness and searched around for more monsters he could kill to gain skill points.


    Skill points were all he needed to get stronger unlike the general way the inhabitants of this world did, and collecting them felt like he was growing stronger as time went by.


    But the only way he could gain skill points was by killing a being higher than his own rank, making him a killing machine whose first thoughts were ''How many skill points will I get by killing them?''.


    Fortunately, he only got such feelings when he caught sight of monsters, and not of the many humans in the city, or else he wouldn''t be sure what to think of himself.


    After a few minutes, Felix stopped as he saw three dark wolves moving carefully.


    One of the wolves looked injured as it was being helped by the other two wolves while they moved, possibly towards their den.


    ''There''s no need to be merciful, it''s a dog-eat-dog world anyways...''


    Felix decided and jumped out of the shadows as he rushed towards the wolves before attacking them.


    He used his sword instead of any skills and met the surprised wolves with a swing of his de.


    The two wolves protected the injured wolf behind them and engaged with Felix as they growled fiercely.


    The injured wolf trembled at the horrible enemy its kinsmen were facing; the wounds it had received pained as it fled from the scene while wobbling.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]x2


    [You have gained 10 skill points.]x2


    A few secondster, after Felix had taken the lives of the two wolves, he nced in the direction the injured wolf had run.


    "Come on, don''t waste my time."


    He chased after it slowly with a smirk, knowing that the injured wolf wouldn''t have run anywhere far.


    Although it felt cruel that Felix was ying around with an injured wolf in this way, he didn''t feel the same as he regarded the wolf as his prey and not his opponent.


    When he turned across the corner of a tall tree, he suddenly stopped in his tracks as his smirk froze.


    There, a few meters in front of him was a suspicious tent erected in the middle of the goddamn forest looking all spooky.


    Felix blinked in confusion, already forgetting about the injured wolf, as he stared eye-wide at the tent as his heartbeat strangely increased.


    ''S-Something doesn''t feel right.....''


    He gulped unknowingly as he felt puzzled about where this unusual fear wasing from.


    The tent seemed to have transformed into a giant and horrible-looking monster in his eyes, that was staring directly into his soul and shaking up his mind.


    ''I should leave.'', Felix took a step backwards, his instincts telling him to run away from this ce.


    "It seems I was right. There really was a bug hiding here.", a sudden voice stated in amusement.


    Felix felt a chill run down his spine when he heard the unknown voice of a man behind him.


    ''W-What''s that!?'', he became seriously alert and ready to escape at any moment from the terror he was feeling of the situation.


    His pupils diluted in shock, Felix slowly turned around to the approaching footsteps and came face to face with the other person.


    ''It''s him!''


    The man whom he had seen with the Rank 2 gnoll kneeling at his feet and the one whom he had suspected to be at Rank 4 was now in front of Felix, looking at him curiously.


    Under his apathetic gaze, the boy felt his ears buzzing up and his chest rising up and down as he couldn''t move his body at all.


    ''W-What is h-happening with me....''


    Felix tried to run from this ce or use any of his skills, but terrifyingly he couldn''t raise his legs or arms or any part of his body at all.


    The man was slowly walking towards him, eyeing him up and down to find anything interesting, but his interest soon died down as the boy seemed nothing extraordinary except for his rare silver hair and red eyes.


    Arriving before the pale boy, the man who towered over two meters tall raised his hand and grabbed the boy''s head, before tightening his hold on the head.


    "Ughh...-AAGHH!!"


    Felix screamed in pain as his head felt like it was about to burst into pieces from the tight hold.


    "AAAAAAGGGHHHHHH!!!"


    The silent and eery forest was disturbed by the boy''s scream which echoed in the darkness.


    Even the guards that were stationed within the tent came running out when they heard the painful shout, but they remained in their ces when they saw the dark-robed person.


    The man stopped squeezing Felix''s head when his eyes started to roll back down and threw him rolling over to the guards without a care.


    "Imprison him along with the other ves. His face is not bad, he can be sold for a high price or something."


    The guards looked at each other before nodding and picked up Felix from the ground as they went back inside the tent without any questions.


    The man followed them inside too but he went in a different direction after entering the secret hole in the tent.


    ''I''m.....s-ve again?...''


    Felix could barely think anything at this point as his head pained physically as well as mentally from the man''s hold, but he could feel the disbelief in his heart as his body turned cold at the man''s deration.


    ''I...gotta....run...''


    His eyelids faltered, failing to keep him conscious but he quickly bit his lips until it bled and remained awake.


    Although he couldn''t make out where the guards, who were of Rank 2, were taking him, he felt that they had gone very deep into whatever base they were in.


    The guards didn''t talk anything between themselves, almost as if they were some puppets that only knew how to follow the orders they were given and walked silently into a corner of their base.


    Reaching arge bronze door, they opened it after unlocking it with several keys and entered inside along with their new ve.


    There were several cells inside the room, all of which were locked with thick steel bars andrge locks.


    The guards moved deeper into the room and roughly threw Felix inside one of the empty cells and locked him from the outside.


    Felix hit the floor as he grunted in pain and rolled around helplessly.


    "Haa...haa...haaa."


    Taking deep breaths, he rxed his twisted face and massaged his still-paining head.


    After some time, he felt the pain subsiding from his head and he narrowed his eyes on the ceiling whileying on the ground tiredly.


    "Sigh....all my skills were reduced to nothing in front of that man....but to think my handsome face saved me this time."


    He muttered unbelievably and touched his fair skin and silver hair softly.


    "This is so fucked up..."

 Chapter 113: Out Of Forest.

    Felix remained lying on the ground absentmindedly as he stared at the ceiling with his lost eyes.


    But it was all an act he was doing to fool the two guards who were still inside the room.


    Meanwhile, he was brainstorming in his mind the series of events that had transpired within this couple of minutes.


    ''I couldn''t do anything at all....''


    Felix recalled the moment when he was facing against the Rank 4 man.


    It felt as if his very soul was trembling, and his body just refused to listen to his mind when the man calmly stared at him.


    Indifference.


    That was what he could see in the man''s eyes. The kind of stare that one gave towards someone so much weaker than you that you would ignore their whole existence.


    ''Sigh....I''m lucky he didn''t outright kill me.''


    Closing his eyes, Felix remembered all the times he had fought against someone stronger than himself.


    Even the system only gave him skill points when he killed a being higher than his own rank, but this time, he realised the harsh consequences of meeting someone truly stronger than himself.


    If it weren''t for his face, which seemed to have some value in the eyes of that man, he was sure he would''ve been dead by now.


    ''Alright, it''s time I escape from here.''


    He opened his eyes when he heard the door of the prison room closing.


    Getting up, he nced through the bars of his cell and verified that the two guards had left the room.


    As he did so, the other cells present in the prison room came into his sight.


    Felix clenched his fists when he saw the malnourished bodies of many kids and weak women being jailed in the cells.


    They wore nothing but a single piece of cloth on themselves, with bodies so thin that they could escape from the cell bars if they wanted to, but they knew the consequences of doing so would be unbearable.


    Their figures reminded Felix of himself when he had been reincarnated in this world as a ve.


    The feeling of having no freedom and the fear of the many inhuman things that were going to happenter on, these thoughts messed up their mind until they could no longer perceive what was right or wrong.


    ''I wish I could save them....''


    Felix thought as he gnawed on his lips in silence.


    Though he wished to save these people from the dark guilds, he knew it was nigh impossible for him to do that with that Rank 4 person in the y.


    Not only that, he didn''t have any information regarding this base and the number of strong people that were present here who could easily kill him.


    Giving the ves ast nce, Felix let out a sad sigh before he used his skill.


    ''Earth Swimming.''


    His body sank into the ground, leaving nothing behind in the cell that revealed his existence and the fact that he was ever here.


    The more he used this skill, the more he realised how useful it could be in many difficult situations.


    After submerging in the earth, Felix swam horizontally for a lot of distance until he felt that it was safe and swam back towards the surface.


    In the dark forest slightly illuminated by the three moonlight, a silver head poked out from the ground and carefully surveyed the surroundings.


    ''It seems fine here.''


    After feeling that the ce was far away from the dark guild''s tent, he surfaced on the ground and started finding his way back towards their small camp.


    It was challenging for him to search for the way back, but he used his new idea of analysing the three moon''s orbital movements to calcte the general directions and ran towards where he thought would be their camp.


    In the end, he found that the idea worked as he came across the several marks he had left behind on trees while hunting there.


    Sometimeter, after he had followed the marks, he reached the camp where the bonfire had beenpletely exhausted.


    ''It''s too dangerous to stay here anymore, we''ll have to leave at the earliest...''


    ncing around the camp, he entered the single tent to wake up the two boys.


    Roven quickly opened his eyes and moved towards his weapon when he felt the presence of another personing inside their tent.


    Just before he could strike the dark figure, Felix let out his voice in panic.


    "Wait-! Roven, it''s me! Don''t hit me!"


    Pausing with his sword raised up, Roven narrowed his eyes in the dark and asked.


    "Felix, is that you? What are you doing here in the middle of the night?"


    "I''ll tell you the reason alright, but first please lower your sword.", Felix replied while sweating.


    The boy would''ve chopped his head if he wasn''t quick enough to stop him, making him realize that it was not a good idea to suddenly wake up any sleeping people.


    After Roven kept his sword aside, Felix woke up Eric too, who looked around sluggishly in confusion.


    Without wasting any time, he conveyed to them the reason he woke the both of them up by mentioning the bandits and the dark guilds, to which they lost all their sleepiness and got ready to leave the ce.


    Hurriedly removing the tent and fetching the horses, they took care of everything at the scene and left the ce with their carriage moving onwards into the dark.


    Eric stayed beside Steve''s unconscious body as he nced at the forest in fear, while Felix sat with Roven at the front of the carriage.


    "Do you know the right directions?", he asked with a frown, afraid that they''ll arrive anywhere near the dark guild''s tent base .


    "Don''t worry, yesterday night I had sorted out the directions with the map. We''ll be able to reach the city in a few hours if we go along this path.", Roven took out his map of the surrounding region and pointed out the way.


    Felix raised his brow, looking at the map, and requested.


    "Can you give me that map for a second?"


    Roven didn''t mind as he had already memorised the path and passed the map to the boy.


    "Sure, take it. The map covers a thousand kilometres of distance of viges and towns from around Edenmont City, including some of the other nearby great cities at the edge of the map."


    He exined briefly about the contents in the map as Felix knitted his brows and searched for what he wanted.


    A few minutester, he marked a location in his mind from the map and handed it back to Roven.


    The look on Felix''s face suddenly turned worried as he nced back into their carriage.


    "Also, about Steve.....is he going to be alright? He''s not waking up no matter how much we call out to him..."


    His concern was shared by Roven, who titghtly clutched the horse reins at the mention of Steve''s unnatural condition.


    He knew more than anyone what forbidden thing Steve had done and the way he had suffered at the hands of the Rank 2 bandit.


    "I don''t know Felix,...this is the first time I''ve ever seen him in such a state. We.....we can only hope the guild may be able to treat him.....", Roven sounded sad with a hint of guilt in his voice.


    Felix nodded with a sigh, wishing Steve would get perfectly treated by the guild, and turned back to stare at the road ahead.


    The rest of their journey remained eventless, the carriage moving onwards the path as a few sunrays shined from across the end of the horizon, signalling the start of dusk.


    In the chilled atmosphere, the boys didn''t let down their guards as they rushed the horses to move faster, hoping to reach back to their guild as quick as they can.


    Fortunately, it seemed that there weren''t anyone chasing after them as the four boys reached the Edenmont City wall after a few hours of travelling.


    Their tired faces brightened up seeing the gates of the city, where the city guard enquired with them of their arrival and allowed them entry into the city as they showed them their id cards.


    Rushing past the early morning streets, their carriage trotted towards the eastern part of the city, arriving at their gothic styled guild building.


    Roven suddenly halted the speeding carriage at the gates of the building; the horses jolting around with a neigh, and the boys jumped out of the carriage.


    Without wasting any time, Roven carried the unconscious Steve as Eric and Felix opened up the way through the gates into the guild building.


    Their hurried footsteps revealed their worry for the boy, who had remained unconscious for more than a dozen hours now.


    Felix hurriedly took out his guild card and disyed it to the eye design on the building''s door, which automatically opened up as it glowed reddish at the edges.


    He rushed inside the hall without any care for his actions and banged the reception desk in urgency.


    Miss Elsa, who had seen them enter in like a storm, smiled as she responded.


    "Easy there, what''s the rush? You guys came back pretty early-"


    Her words were interrupted by Felix who shouted out loud with a tense face.


    "PLEASE HELP STEVE! HE''S NOT WAKING UP!!"

 Chapter 114: Cedric.

    A tense atmosphere surrounded the Main Hall of the Twilight Chaos Guild.


    The many guild members who were present in the lounge turned their heads around in surprise as the boy''s shout grabbed their attention.


    "What did he say? Steve boy is injured?"


    "Ain''t no way that''s possible. That boy''s pretty tough if you forget his yapping mouth."


    "That''s right....wait-! Isn''t that Steve on Roven''s back at the door?"


    Everyone turned their heads and widened their eyes in shock when they saw the injured body of their infamous guildmate, who always bragged about himself in every conversation.


    They stood up and moved towards the desk, their faces showing signs of fury and worry.


    Miss Elsa stood up from her seat as a serious frown arose on her face.


    Her eyes moved towards the door, where her little brother Roven was carrying inside his injured teammate Steve on his back.


    Roven reached the desk as Felix and Eric helped him with Steve''s unconscious body and faced towards his elder sister.


    "S-Sis, can you please hurry and heal Steve? I swear I''ll answer all your questionster without hiding anything...."


    He bit his lips with a grieved and slightly guilty face.


    Miss Elsa walked across from her desk without replying and waved her hand over Steve''s body as she muttered something under her breath.


    Her brows wrinkled after examining him, showing confusion as she stared at the boy with a more serious look now.


    She casted another spell on him without wasting any time.


    Slowly, Steve''s body left his teammate''s hold and magically floated above the ground.


    After casting this basic spell, Miss Elsa manipted Steve''s body to move in the air and started walking towards the stairs along with it.


    "You guys can rest for now, I''lle back for you after healing him.", she replied before quickly disappearing upstairs.


    The three boys watched her go until they couldn''t hold themselves back any longer and plopped onto the floor in exhaustion.


    The other guild members who were surrounding them refrained from throwing questions at them seeing their states and gave them some time to rest.


    But one of them, a tall and bulky man with short spiky ck hair, seemed to have no patience at all as he tapped on Eric''s shoulder and asked with a strange smile on his face.


    "Where did you guys go for your mission, Eric?"


    The boy turned around in confusion at the kind voice, his eyes widening when he saw the man, but his mouth moved on his own as he stuttered.


    "Uhh that, we went to umm Wuller Town...."


    The man nodded with a thoughtful face, then turned around and signalled at his teammates before smiling at Eric.


    "Everything''s going to be alright now, you should go and have some rest in your rooms.", he said with his kind-looking eyes as he started moving out of the guild building with his other teammates.


    Felix looked over at their interaction, the man having his attention, and asked curiously in a low voice.


    "Who''s that Eric was speaking to? He seems....umm...a bit strange?"


    Roven parted his eyes from the stairs where his sister and Steve had gone, turning towards the man Felix was asking about.


    That man had already reached the main door and was about to exit the building, but Roven luckily caught sight of his leaving figure on time, which made him stunned.


    "Even he is back? Well, that''s to be expected, I guess. Everyone is getting called back for the guild wars.", he muttered.


    Felix too stared until the man''s figure was no more, and asked again in confusion.


    "So, who is that man?"


    Getting up from the floor, Roven patted the dust off his clothes as he responded in a respectful tone.


    "His name is Hector,.....and he''s known in the guild as the individual with the highest sess rate in missionspletion."


    His words amazed Felix who raised his brows in surprise, wondering how strong and capable the person named Hector was to achieve such a feat.


    Meanwhile, Eric was sping his hands with stars lighting up in his eyes. The person whom he had spoken to was someone he had always looked up to, and interacting with him made him feel excited.


    ''If only I could be as strong as Sir Hector.....''


    The three of them remained in the main hall for a while, casually chatting with the other guild members, and then left to their rooms to take a rest.


    Felix took a quick bath the moment he entered his room, and then jumped on his bed without a care topensate for spending the whole day with absolutely no sleep.


    ''So much happened today,....and there''s also those from the dark guilds always poking their nose in every ce.'', he frowned.


    It seemed that the involvement of the dark guilds in the surrounding ces had increased day by day, alerting Felix of the uing dangers that he would have to face.


    ''....and that too.''


    He suddenly recalled the moment when the Rank 4 man had caught him within his hold.


    He couldn''t even think straight at that time because of the pressureing off from the man, and all he could think about was that he was going to die in the man''s hands.


    Clenching his fists, Felix determined himself.


    ''I''ll have to advance to Rank 1 after this and get more stronger....''


    He then closed his eyes, drifting to sleep as he stopped working his tired brain.


    His deep and long breathes showed how exhausted he had been from the mission, the results of which weren''t upto anyone''s expectations.


    *****


    In the middle of the endless forest.


    Beneath a tent, where the dark guilds had built an underground base.


    Inside the ve prison.


    The two Rank 2 guards had their heads on the ground in fear as they kneeled in front of their Rank 4 superior.


    "M-Master Cedric, we.. .we really don''t know how that boy escaped."


    "It wasn''t our fault, so..so please have mercy on us. We promise that we''ll find him back for you.", the guards begged as their bodies trembled.


    The Rank 4 man named Cedric wearing a dark red robe, and with ck hair and grey eyes, who had caught Felix and tried to enve him, gazed around the ves inside the prison while ignoring the two guards.


    He walked over to the cell Felix was imprisoned in and checked inside for anything useful, but he was soon disappointed as he didn''t find any clue.


    Walking out from behind the still kneeling guards, he said.


    "That boy had rare silver coloured hair and a pair of never seen crystal red eyes. Now, what does that mean?"


    The two guards looked at each other and answered with a slight confusion.


    "T-That he''ll fetch a good price if we sold him as a ve?"


    "No."


    Cedric shook his head mly and replied matter-of-factly.


    "It means you both won''t be necessary to find him given his unique appearance."


    At the end of his words, the two guards widenend their eyes in realisation of his intentions.


    "Swish!"


    But they were a bit toote and thus couldn''t resist the iing slice of concensed aura as their bodies got chopped up into several pieces, with blood spraying out on the ground in a gruesome manner.


    Cedric didn''t mind the blood that had spilled on him as he started walking out of the prison, snapping his finger while on the way.


    "Snap."


    All the ves who were present in the prison suddenly woke up and felt a suffocating pressure descent on them which made them breathless.


    They struggled to breath while gasping and holding onto their necks, slowly making them feel dizzy.


    Their weak bodies couldn''t hold out anymore without any oxygen as their eyes rolled over one by one, until all of them lost the lights in their eyes and dropped on the floor with a thud.


    That wasn''t the end as all of their corpses suddenly exploded, drenching the room with blood and guts.


    "Hmm...that smells nice."


    Cedric smiled and casually walked out of the prison room as if he had just taken a little stroll in a park.


    Moving out, he narrowed his eyes with a sharp glint.


    "To escape our tightly secured base without leaving any evidence,....now this is getting interesting."


    The sound of his footsteps fading into distance were all that was left in the prison room, which reeked of nothing but iron and filth there.

 Chapter 115: Eradication.

    After sleeping for a few hours, Felix woke up in the afternoon and instantly made his way to the dining hall when his stomach growled fiercely.


    Filling his tummy to the brim, he stood outside Steve''s room and knocked on the door.


    "Hey Steve, are you there inside?"


    He didn''t know whether Steve had beenpletely healed or not, so he came to check on him.


    There was no response from inside the room, so he knocked a few more times and called out to him until the door of the next room opened up.


    "Can you stop shouting Felix? I''m trying to concentrate on meditating here....."


    A dishevelled curly brown-haired boy poked his head out of the door, showing an annoyed expression.


    "Oh Eric, it''s you. Sorry to disturb you, but is Steve not in his room? I''ve wanted to check on his condition after what had happened yesterday...."


    Felix said as he walked over to Eric''s room and sneaked a peek inside, finding the room clean and tidy except for many books thrown all over the bed.


    Eric quickly shut the door as he walked out of his room with an awkward face and replied unsurely.


    "Cough-, if it''s about Steve, then you don''t have to worry about anything. That guy jumped back into the training room as soon he woke up and got healed."


    He sounded tired for some reason as if he had tried stopping the boy, but had failed to convince him to take a rest.


    But seeing Steve''s attitude, even Eric got motivated because of which he was meditating really hard to grow stronger right now.


    "Are you serious? Sigh....he is Steve, so maybe I should''ve seen thising."


    Felix raised a brow hearing that and shook his head with a wry smile.


    Eric just shrugged helplessly.


    "Alright, I won''t take your time then. I''ll check him out and see for myself if he''s right in the head or something.", Felix waved at him and walked away towards the stairs.


    Eric went back inside his room after sending Felix off and busied himself with meditating and learning on his path of a mage.


    Meanwhile, Felix went upstairs to the second floor where the training rooms were and saw one of those rooms had a red stand at the door.


    ''He should be here.''


    Grabbing the knob of the door, Felix pushed open the door and entered inside.


    "Boom!"


    A sudden shockwave spread from the middle of the room as soon he walked in, making him narrow his eyes.


    "What the-!"


    Felix widened his eyes in shock, witnessing the strange scene in front of him.


    "Bang! Bang!"


    A crazy Steve was recklessly smashing his sword all over the walls and the floor of the room, his face contorted in agitation as if he had lost his mind.


    "Steve, what the fuck is-", Felix called out in confusion.


    But it seemed that the boy didn''t like the interruption as he raised his sword and rushed at him without any mercy in his moves.


    Felix quickly grabbed his shortsword that he had fortunately brought, his lips raising upwards with a hint of anticipation.


    "A fight? Bring it on then...."


    He shut the door, kicking off the ground, and met his sword with Steve''s bizarre attacks.


    There was no way he would shy away from a good fight, especially when he was just about to advance.


    The training room was then engulfed with metallic ngs as the two of them dived themselves into a frenzy battle.


    *****


    Wuller Town.


    In the middle of the town, the bandit''s hideout.


    The once magnificent town building had turned into debris and dust, all of its past splendor reduced to nothing.


    Corpses littered the ground, their blood still fresh and warm as it flowed into the streets like streams connecting to a river.


    A group of four stood amidst the destruction, their sight fixed upon a man leaning against a broken wall who was the supposed leader of the bandits.


    The man coughed out blood, his eyes trembling in fear as he muttered.


    ".....p-please...spare my life. I''ve never ordered....my men to attack any....four boys."


    The previous haughty and overbearing bandit leader who had conquered the Wuller town and ruled over it like a dirty dictator was no more as he begged pitifully.


    He had no idea where these four powerful men, who had killed all of his men and ravaged his base, hade from.


    The only thing he knew was that they were here to punish him and his group of bandits for hurting some boys.


    One among the four men walked forward, his steps bold and confident, and if Felix was here, he would recognize this person as Hector whom he had seen in the guild.


    "I''m not here to hear any excuses. Your people hurted my precious guildmates, and that reason alone is enough for us to destroy everything you care about."


    Hector put his leg on the bandit leader''s chest and spoke with his narrowed eyes.


    There was no image of a kind person that he had disyed in the guild previously, instead he looked more like an executioner right now.


    "...n-no. This is....just so unfair....", the man grit his teeth in indignation.


    "That''s what you get for being a bandit. And dont worry, we''ll also get the ones who were behind you."


    Hector kept a straight face as he put more strength in his legs, crushing down onto the bandit''s chest as he gasped for breath.


    "Farewell."


    A sickening crunch sounded, cracking the bandit''s ribcage and heart, and the man lost the light in his terrified eyes.


    Hector turned around after killing the bandit''s leader, his expression growing more serious.


    "This matter is moreplicated then I expected. The four of them were lucky to have escaped from this ce, or else they would''ve been dead by now."


    His teammates nodded and one of them asked with a tense face.


    "If I''m not wrong, then the ones behind these bandits must be....the dark guilds, right?"


    Hector nodded as he replied.


    "Hmm, the dark guilds are truly a devious force to be reckoned. This town was already under their control without anybody''s knowledge."


    He started walking out from the bandit''s previous hideout, the other three following behind.


    "We must report everything back to the guild. There''s no way we can allow the dark guilds do whatever they want."


    The four of them left the ce, leaving behind the bandit''s building where there was no one alive except for some ves and workers.


    *****


    In the Twilight Chaos guild building, the training room.


    Two boys gasped for breath as they supported themselves on their weapons.


    Steve seemed to have gotten back to his senses as he grinned tiredly.


    "Thanks for that, Felix. I guess I went a bit out of control there."


    Felix shook his head calmly.


    "It''s alright. I understand what you''re going through right now."


    Steve gave a forced smile and sat down on the floor as he sighed in exhaustion.


    "It''s terrible, you know. The feeling when you lose without even putting up a fight....."


    Felix nodded, his thoughts going back to when the Rank 4 man had effortlessly caught him within his grasp.


    "The guild wars will be in a few days, and I don''t know how strong opponents we''ll be facing. There''s a possibility that we won''t even be of any use in the war. Just cannon fodder."


    He continued with a grieved expression while clenching his fists.


    "I....I don''t want this....I want to grow stronger. So strong that no one would be able to look down on me again. So strong that no one can harm my friends again. And...and..."


    Felix walked over to Steve and patted his shoulder, giving the boy a encouraging smile.


    "I get you, Steve. Even I want to grow stronger until there is no one who can defeat me. There''s a long road ahead of us, so don''t be worried. We''ll definitely reach a level where nobody has ever reached."


    His words made Steve breathless, whose eyes turned brighter and brighter, as if something deep inside of him was waking up.


    The words ''a level where nobody has ever reached'' made his heart skip a beat, imagining himself standing above everyone else where nobody could be at the same level as him.


    Felix widened his smile and pulled Steve up, standing together as both of them held each others hand tightly.


    "You sure we can do it?", Steve asked unsurely as he knew how hard of a goal they had set of themselves.


    "Well, I don''t doubt myself but I can''t say for you."


    Steve twitched his lips and gave a light kick to Felix''s side, prompting the boy to break out inughter.


    "Haha stop stop, I was just kidding.", Felix rubbed his paining side and said with a chuckle.


    "Remember, as long as we live, there''s nothing stopping us from growing stronger."


    Steve looked taken aback as he nodded with an excited face.


    "...as long as we live, there''s nothing stopping us from growing stronger....", he repeated as the words sinked inside his mind, raising his desire to train and survive in this cruel world.


    Felix let go of Steve''s hand, picking up his sword as he waved at him and walked out of the training room.


    "See youter, Steve. I got something important to do now."


    Steve nodded and continued to stare at the boy''s back, his face turning determined as he muttered under his breath.


    "Don''t worry, Felix. I''ll soon grow stronger and even surpass you...."


    *****

 Chapter 116: Breakthrough.

    After returning to his room, Felix didn''t waste any time and sat on the floor near the window, his body still in the battle state as before.


    ''Let''s do this!''


    He unhurriedly took out the advancement potion Mr.Dealer had given to him and kept it to the side.


    Releasing a deep breath, he closed his eyes, focused his mind and circted the energy inside his body to move around through his nerves.


    Slowly but surely, his consciousness reached the peak of concentration as he could feel his blood crazily pumping out from his heart and travelling to the other parts of his body.


    The rythmic breaths of the meditation technique controlled the blood path and all the nutrients it had, sending it to his internal organs and strengthening them.


    This process took a whole hour, after which he felt his blood slowing down and not producing anymore nutrients, but all he needed was onest push.


    Opening his eyes, Felix grabbed the potion and quickly emptied it down his throat, not showing any reaction to its horrible taste.


    The moment the potion reached his stomach, a small explosion urred inside, and then all the liquid got absorbed by his body within seconds, before his heart again started to pump out nutrient-full blood.


    All of his organs greedily absorbed the nutrients, whoch nourished and enhanced their capabilities.


    After his organs had reached their limit, Felix could now feel his skin and bones burning, which was the next part of the advancement.


    ck sweat gradually oozed out of his body, turning him dirty and smelly as he grit his teeth at the convulsing pain in his body.


    Another hourter, his body got rxed and he opened his eyes back again, which produced a crimson hue in the dark room now that it had turned night.


    [Ding!]


    [Congrattions! You''ve attained the Rank 1 of Warrior Cultivation.]


    [Ding! Your soul has strengthened andpletely absorbed into your body, fusing with the previous soul''s remnants.]


    [Ding!]


    [Sealed Memories detected. Do you wish to unseal it?]


    Felix remained sitting in a lotus position, his brows frowning as he checked the system''s message.


    He should''ve been happy now that he had advanced to Rank 1, but theter part of the system''s message confused him as he narrowed his eyes in suspicion.


    "Previous soul? Sealed memories? Hey system, is it rted to the previous soul living in this body?"


    [Affirmative.]


    [The soul of the previous host of this body has beenpletely dissipated, but as you had taken over this body at the moment of it''s death, the brain which should''ve rebooted held onto some of the memorable memories.]


    [The system then sealed them during your awakening incase of an unstability with your newly arrived soul.]


    Hearing the system''s exnation, Felix pondered about his situation for a minutes in silence.


    ''The previous soul was an orphan boy living in the slums, and taken into very moments before his death. There''s no way such a person would have any worthwhile memories to have except for hardship and pain.''


    He thought about the pros and cons of the unsealed memories, wondering what decision he should make until he arrived at a conclusion.


    "You asked for my permission to unseal the memories, right? Does that mean I can refuse it and also delete them?"


    No matter what, it was weird for one person to have two peoples memories, even if that person was the previous soul of his new body.


    You''re right, he had already came to terms with it and hadpletely epted this body as his own, especially considering how handsome he was and the size of his little brother.


    [Yes, you may choose to refuse unsealing the memories, but they cannot be deleted as even the system doesn''t have the ability to tweak with souls unless you create a suitable skill rted to such an action.]


    Felix nodded with a relieved expression on his face, as now he didn''t have to worry about some new memories getting forced inside his  head.


    ''A skill to delete the memories? Let me try...''


    He thought of a skill in his mind for dealing with memories and after asking the system to create such a skill, he gave a wry smile seeing its price.


    ''...I''m too poor for this.''


    Felix refused to create the skill as it cost more than he ever had, and also refused the system to unseal the memories.


    [The memories will remain sealed within your brain, and if the host wants, you can unseal them at any moment.]


    "Yeah yeah, I''m never going to do that...."


    He waved his hand dismissively and turned back his attention to his Rank 1 body.


    ''I should take a bath'', he looked down at the ck sweat on his body and hurriedly jumped into bathroom.


    Some timeter, he walked out refreshed and stood infront of the mirror naked, admiring his handsome and well built body.


    His previous height of 161cm had almost grown to 170cm and his skin now looked ripped with all the tight muscles on his body.


    There was huge bulge in his towel which showed that even his little brother had grown when it was still not awakened.


    Flexing his muscles in the mirror, Felix called out to the system.


    "Show my status."


    The system promptly disyed his new status.


    [Ding!]


    [--Status--]


    [Name: Felix]


    [Race: Human]


    [Age: 14]


    [Sex: Male]


    [Mage Cultivation: Rank 0]


    [Warrior Cultivation: Rank 1]


    [Talent: ¡ï¡ï ]


    [State: Partially Pure Viens and a healthy body.]


    [Skills: Silent Steps, shback, Earth Swimming, Ratio Technique, Parabolic Hearing, Earth Spikes, Agility Burst, Corrosion, Equanimity, Quicksand, Dust st, Terra Drain. ]


    [Skill Points: 630]


    Taking a good look at his status, Felix nodded seeing the Rank 1 in warrior Cultivation and turned to look at the skills he had.


    ''They''re not bad...although I want to create more strong skills.''


    He sighed as most of the time he was forced by the situation to create all these skills, which he hade up hurriedly without much thought.


    ''Even now I cannot create skills that I desire as the guild wars are around the corner and I may need the skill points during that time.''


    Shaking his head, he wore some clothes and walked out of his room as he was starving after breaking through.


    He made his way to the dining hall as it was dinner time and filled his te with scrumptious food before sitting down at a table.


    Almost halfway through his meal, Steve walked over and joined him too with a simr full te of his.


    The two boys wolfed down their dinner without speaking a word. Their teeths crunching and grinding the food as they devoured it until their tummy fattened up.


    "Bwerp-"


    Both of them reclined back on their chairs after finishing off, rubbing their filled stomachs and picking their teeths.


    "Thank god this is all free food here...or else I''m not sure if we could pay for it.", Felix said with a sigh.


    "I totally agree. The guild''s dining hall is the only ce where I don''t feel poor....", Steve chuckled.


    The two boys did chitchat among themselves, letting the time pass as their bodies digested and absorbed their meals.


    As they spoke, Steve suddenly lowered his voice and suggested something he was thinking about.


    "There''s only a few days before the guild wars starts, and I was thinking of visiting the underground arena for some action. Are you interested ining along with me?"


    Felix tilted his head and gave the matter a thought.


    He remembered the exclusive card Mr.Dealer had given to him as a reward, which permitted him to many special facilities in the underworld that he had yet to utilise, and the mary rewards he had earned from winning the battles which was stored in the card.


    There were still many things he had yet to do in the underworld, including testing out his newfound strength now that he was at Rank 1.


    Turning to Steve, he nodded and agreed with his n.


    "Sure, I''lle along. There''s some work I have to do there too."


    "Great. Then, we''ll move out tomorrow morning then."


    Steve replied as he stood up along with Felix.


    Suddenly his eyes widened in shock looking at Felix''s tall body which almost reached his.


    "Holy fuck dude, what drug did you use to grow tall so quickly!!", he eximed and patted Felix over his body.


    Felix swatted away Steve''s hands and responded with a strange face.


    "Don''t touch me like that dude, people will misunderstand. Also, the reason for my growth is that I''ve advanced to Rank 1 now. I thought you would''ve noticed it."


    A look of realisation surfaced on Steve''s face, masking his dejected expression as he couldn''t perceive the powering off from Felix as his senses had be dull from using the forbidden technique.


    His battle with the Rank 2 bandit had resulted in more than just his defeat.


    The technique he had used to forcibly manifest aura out of his body had left him with permanent damage in his mind and nerves, reducing his sensory and perceptive abilities during anybat.


    The reason he had lost his mind in the training room was because of this, and also the reason for him to visit the underworld tomorrow.


    "Haha, it seems I was too hungry to even notice that. Congrattions Felix, you''re not even 15 and already at Rank 1. Though age isn''t an important factor in getting strong, it''s still impressive how you''ve changed from that little boy."


    This time there was a genuine smile on Steve''s face as he praised Felix wholeheartedly.


    Felix smiled brightly and epted his praise, both of them making their way out of the dining hall.


    They then exchanged some talks and returned back to their rooms after a few minutes


    Felix cleaned around his room, turned off the lights, and jumped on his bed, sinking into his dreams as he wondered the new things he''ll encounter in the Underwolrd tomorrow.

 Chapter 117: Castle.

    It was a new day with a fresh morning breeze flowing in the streets of Edenmont City.


    Two figures wearing suspicious robes walked out of the building of Twilight Chaos Guild and disappeared away in a sh.


    They conversed amongst themselves as they moved in the shadows of the alleys.


    "You sure Mr.Dealer isn''t lying to you?", Steve asked in doubt.


    "I can vouch for him on this one as I''ve personally gone through there.", Felix replied with an assured nod.


    "Alright then, we''ll use that path."


    Steve gave a nod while following behind Felix as they crossed several streets and arrived at a small inn.


    "Here it is."


    Felix opened the door of the inn and walked inside after the both of them had put a mask on their faces.


    Steve stepped in after him and nced around the empty inn where only a worker and a man wearing a grey robe were present.


    Taking a peek at the grey-robed person who gave him a subtle nod, Felix walked into the corridor of the inn along with Steve and entered a room he had remembered.


    There was a strange staircase in the middle of the room which they used to descend several floors under the ground until they reached a different dark area.


    A guard stood at the bottom of the stairs to whom Felix gave some coins and exited the staircase as he turned around to Steve who had a curious look all along.


    "And this is how you secretly enter the Underworld from the backdoor."


    Steve gave an impressed face as he looked around the ce they had arrived.


    "Damn, why didn''t Mr.Dealer tell me about this before?"


    Felix smirked teasingly and replied.


    "I guess he''s aware of your loose mouth...."


    Steve rubbed his head awkwardly, showing his tongue and started chasing after Felix, who gestured at him and walked away.


    They moved under the shadowy alleys and a few minutester arrived at Mr.Dealer''s base building before entering inside.


    There wasn''t anyone in the hall except for another grey-robed person, who stood up and called out to his master from upstairs seeing the two of them.


    Mr.Dealer walked out of his room along with his subordinate and smiled looking at the two.


    "Oh, it''s Felix and Steve, d to have you guys in my humble abode."


    Steve rolled his eyes at the man''s eloquent way of speaking and said.


    "Long time no see, Mr.Dealer. You haven''t changed a bit."


    "Haha, I''ll take that as apliment. But you both on the other hand changed tremendously. Nice work there Felix, you broke through the Rank 1, and...umm Steve you too...."


    He congratted Felix after scanning him thoroughly and continued while narrowing his eyes on Steve''s body.


    Felix smiled in return while Steve gave him a particr look in his eyes.


    The three talked for a bit about the things happening around them before Felix inquired about his other teammates.


    "Those three seem to have also broken through Rank 1. I don''t know about Crystal and Berd, but Falcon was hanging around in the underworld somewhere."


    Mr.Dealer stated as he pointed his thumb towards his grey-robed subordinate.


    "I can ask my man to take you to him if you want."


    Felix pondered as he turned to look at Steve who gave him a shrug.


    "You can go ahead and meet up with him. I''ll be staying here for a while and do some workter. We can meet here again after we''re both done."


    Coming to a decision, Felix nodded and epted Mr.Dealer''s help.


    "Thanks for the guide then."


    As ordered by his master, the grey-robed man gestured for Felix to follow him as they both walked out of the building.


    Watching his friend moving out, Steve turned back to Mr.Dealer and spoke seriously.


    "I need your help."


    *****


    In the ck Market.


    A man wearing a swordsman outfit was walking around with his hands in his pockets.


    His curious brown eyes darted through the many stalls in the area for any treasure or useful thing, and when he did find something interesting, he would buy it without a care as if the cost didn''t matter at all.


    The stall owners and the crowd would make a way for him in admiration as he strolled about, their expressions a mix of fear and awe.


    This was the daily urrence that happened to Falcon, who after winning the battles against the dark guilds became famous overnight and was made one of the heroes of the underworld.


    Especially considering the other three were rarely seen around, his fame and past presence here made him the most popr person in the underworld even though he was just recently promoted to Rank 1 with the help of potions.


    As Falcon walked around aimlessly with a confident smile on his face, a simr person who seemed to split the crowd arrived before him.


    "Hmm? Isn''t that Phantom?", he raised his brow in interest before walking near to him.


    Felix waved at him as they met.


    "Hey there Falcon, you''ve reached Rank 1, that''s nice."


    "You too man, those potions truly worked like a charm. Where are you going by the way? Want me to show you around?", he suggested.


    Felix nodded as that was what he wanted and walked along with Falcon as the crowd around them discussed under their breath.


    "That''s Phantom beside Falcon, right? One of the four horsemen of the underworld."


    "Yeah you''re right, it''s him. I''ve heard that the four horsemen defeated the whole dark guilds that wanted to take over the underworld."


    "That''s not the entire story. I heard they caught everyone in the dark guilds and tortured them before selling them off as ves to the neighbouring kingdoms."


    "I don''t know about that, butter the four horsemen disappeared as they wanted to fight against the evil dark guilds even outside the city."


    The rumours continued without a pause as people hushed amongst themselves, while Falcon and Felixughed upon hearing them.


    "Haha, are they serious? The four horsemen of the underworld? That sounds so childish.", Felix chuckled as he shook his head.


    "What do you mean childish, Phantom? I think it sounds great.", Falcon defended as he rubbed his nose with a pout.


    Felix twitched his lips as he asked in doubt.


    "Wait, don''t tell me you were the one that came up with that name...."


    "Cough cough....of course not. What do you take me for....", Falcon quickly lied as he waved his hands in panic.


    The two of them walked around the ck market bickering among themselves for fun, ncing around the items that were being sold and checking the bustling ce.


    Felix turned to Falcon as he remembered the reason he came here.


    "Right. Can you take me to those special facilities essed only by the people owning an Exclusive card?"


    He asked while taking out his ckish gold Exclusive card given to him by Mr.Dealer.


    Falcon also took out his simr card and nodded with a grin.


    "Absolutely. Even I''ve yet to enter those facilities. Come on, I wonder what we''ll see there..."


    Falcon pointed towards the direction for Felix and took him crossing several streets of the underworld.


    They reached the entrance of the Underworld Arena and took a right turn from there for a few minutes before arriving at a ck castle separated by a bridge.


    The castle looked strangely fitted in the low-ceiling area of the underworld, but its magnificent architecture and design left people breathless.


    "I was not expecting this at all.....", Felix muttered in disbelief.


    Falcon nodded as he joked.


    "Yeah, right? The first time I came here, I thought some hidden royalty lived here....."


    The vicinity near the castle and the bridge looked scarce of people as Felix and Falcon stepped over to the other side of the bridge.


    A small sentry of elite-looking guards stopped them at the gates of the castle, asking for their identification and the two of them took out their cards.


    The guards turned more respectful as they guided the two of them into the gates and opened therge door of the castle for them to enter.


    "Honoured guests, wee to the Underworld Castle."


    Greeted the several women dressed like maids standing on both sides of the door.


    As for why call them women and not maids directly was because of the power they were emitting, which was on the same level as Felix and Falcon.


    This humbled the two of them very much as they took a silent gulp and nced at each other a bit taken aback.


    It would have been fine if it were only the elite guards who were this strong, but to think even mere maids here were on the same level as them made them speechless.


    ''I should act more careful from here on out...''


    Felix thought seriously as he could feel several powerful auras from all the corners of the the building he was in.


    As the two of them took their first steps inside the underworld castle, they cautiously nced around the ce while holding back their breaths.


    The ce that they were in was called the Great Hall, which looked clean to the point of seeing your reflection on the walls and floor, a stark contrast to the dirty and dark ck market.


    The hall was adorned with strange paintings and ornaments, raising the overall charm of the ce while adding a hint of mystery to the air.


    Only a few people were present there who seemed to be busy with their work and not giving a care for their arrival.


    Despite the foreboding exterior of the castle, therey abyrinth-likework of corridors and chambers within it, each serving its purpose.


    Unfamiliar with their surroundings as it was their first time in this ce, the pair approached a senior maid sitting at an office-like counter.


    The maid took notice of them and smiled professionally as she inquired without any arrogance of her Rank 2 power.


    "How may I help you, sir?"

 Chapter 118: Uncurable.

    Falcon felt a bit overwhelmed when the Rank 2 woman called them ''Sir'', but Felix didn''t feel much as he had even killed a Rank 2 before.


    "It''s our first time in the castle, can you please show us around the ce?", he asked politely.


    The maid nodded and gestured them towards one of the brightly lit corridors.


    "Sure. This path leads you to the various facilities of the underworld while the others are for different purposes."


    She brought the two deeper into the corridor, pointing at the many chambers on both sides and introducing their utility.


    "That one is the Training Hall where fighters of all the ranks can train andpete with each other, that one is the Forbidden Library which...."


    She continued guiding them as they traversed the whole corridor and returned to the Great Hall.


    Pointing at the other corridors, she mentioned.


    "Those paths are strictly confidential and only allowed for the higher-ups of the Underworld. If you''re seen there, then you''ll be punished by the guards and may even face death. So please refrain from going there. That''ll be all, I hope you understood everything."


    The maid bowed a little to show her professional behaviour and walked away leaving behind the dubious pair who nced at each other in wonder.


    "What''s so special about those paths, huh? Is there like a hidden secret kept there?", Falcon remarked with a curious face.


    "That may be the case...."


    Felix replied as he turned around towards the only corridor avable to them and started walking deeper.


    "Well, why don''t we go have some fun for now."


    *****


    The ck Market.


    Inside a nameless shop situated at a corner of the whole ce.


    A middle-aged woman was stirring the contents of a huge pot in the middle of the room.


    Before her stood two men, the charismatic Mr.Dealer and an anxious Steve.


    They patiently waited for the woman to do her work, moving their eyes along the stirring stick of hers.


    A few minutester, she stopped and cleaned her hands as she moved over to the counter.


    "So, what can I do for you?", she asked staring at the two.


    Mr.Dealer walked forward along with Steve and pointed at the boy.


    "Check his nerves, you''ll find out...."


    Samantha, the ck market''s alchemist, raised her brow in confusion as Steve gave her his hand which she lightly grabbed.


    Her face turned serious a few secondster when she sensed the chaotic and unstable nerves of the boy.


    "This..."


    She turned towards Mr.Dealer with a frown, who shrugged and replied unsurely.


    "Don''t ask me. I''m no expert in that field that''s why I brought him here."


    Steve became anxious watching their interaction as he was worried about his condition.


    "Umm...Miss Samantha, is my situation critical? Or is there some hope for me?"


    Samantha contemted with a visible frown on her face for a few seconds before responding.


    "You''re nerves arepletely damaged to the point of rupturing, which means you can''t cultivate in the normal way anymore. This is not the first time I''vee across such a condition but...."


    Steve''s eyes lit up thinking there may be a possible cure to his problem, but her next words froze him.


    "....I''ve never seen someone recover from it."


    She looked at the boy with pity as he struggled to keep a straight face, and then turned to the side.


    "Don''t you have many tricks up your sleeves? Why don''t you try helping him?"


    Mr.Dealer who had a serious face sighed as he shook his head.


    "I''m helpless too. You''re the only one I could think of upon seeing his condition..."


    The two of them continued conversing with each other, while Steve sunk in his thoughts.


    ''Is this it?..... Is this my end? Will I never be able to grow strong anymore? Stuck in the Rank 1 forever?....''


    His face turned pale and his head shook due to the intense emotions he was going through.


    The two adults in the room noticed his state and stopped talking as they nced at each other in worry.


    "Is there nothing you can do?", Mr.Dealer hushed at her.


    Samantha gave a wry smile while shaking her head.


    Raising his head, Steve took a deep breath to shake off his thoughts and turned toward the alchemist with a forced and helpless smile.


    "Miss Samantha, I can''t live like this. I have yet to experience so much in life and grow more stronger than I already am. I have to face the guild wars with my teammates and there''s also the unknown danger lurking around."


    His eyes turned red in sadness as he almost begged on his knees.


    "There must be something you can do! It doesn''t matter what happens to me or what challenges I may face from here onwards, if there''s a way to treat me, then please....please tell me!"


    He pleaded with her pitifully, making her awkward as she scratched her cheeks.


    Mr.Dealer too nced at her intensely, hoping she could help the boy.


    Under the heavy pressure from the two of them, Samantha gave up and muttered in hesitation.


    "This...I won''t rmend you this but it''s the only method I have."


    Steve''s eyes lit up again as he rapidly nodded.


    "I''ll do it! I''m willing to do anything to recover and get stronger."


    Samantha remained quiet seeing his persistence and finally yielded when he didn''t back down at all.


    With an exhausted sigh, she stepped into her cabin by the side and brought out a bunch of simr vials of potions from there.


    cing the vials on the counter, she made a solemn expression and started exining.


    "I don''t have a cure for your condition but that doesn''t mean others don''t. That''s why I suggest you visit an established ce like the Royal Capital or somewhere to find something to treat your nerves."


    She then pointed her finger to the potions and said.


    "As for these potions, they have good news and bad news. The good news is that they can temporarily reawaken your nerves which means you can fight how you normally do, and the bad news is that these only work for one month. After which, your nerves getspletely damaged to the point of no return."


    Samantha warned the boy who had started to get excited even when she told him its drawbacks.


    "I''m saying it again. If you''re not confident in finding yourself a cure within a month, then it''s better you don''t use any of these potions.


    So, are you still going to do this?"


    Steve stared at the vials as he contemted with a serious face.


    Mr.Dealer on the side showed aplicated face as he expressed.


    "Steve, I think you should reconsider this. Taking such a risk will not benefit you, where a simple mistake can bring you down to nothing."


    The boy on the other hand was feelingplex inside as he didn''t understand even his own thoughts.


    A part of him wanted to refuse to use the potions which screamed danger, while a part of him wanted to face the challenge and prove by himself that he could find a cure.


    As he drowned in his thoughts, he remembered the battle which created all of these problems.


    ''That time I couldn''t do anything at all...''


    The Rank 2 bandit''s mocking face appeared in his mind, which had haunted him the entire night yesterday.


    Shaking his head, Steve turned toward the alchemist Samantha as he came to a decision and gave her his answer.


    "I..."


    *****


    The Underworld Castle.


    Felix carefully opened arge door and walked in along with Falcon a step behind.


    They looked around and found themselves inside a bar-like lounge where a dozen people sat around in silence.


    Huge beautiful chandeliers hung from the ceilings, brightening the room with ambience and the scent of fresh flowers from the different juices on the counter lingered in the ce.


    Felix and Falcon stood stupefied at the entrance as the door slowly closed on its own.


    With a strange voice, Falcon muttered with visible confusion on his face.


    "Umm...Phantom, did we end up in the wrong ce or something?"


    Felix woke up to reality at his words, as he quietly took a few steps back and opened the door of the room again to check what was written on there.


    And there before his eyes was abel on the door termed ''Training Hall'', which made him widen his eyes in surprise as he walked back beside Falcon.


    "I don''t know what to say...."

 Chapter 119: Training Hall?

    Felix and Falcon stood frozen in the possible ''training hall''.


    Their faces were confused as they couldn''t understand whether they were in the right ce or not.


    "Why don''t we try asking that bartender there?"


    Falcon expressed, to which Felix nodded as they made their way to the bar counter.


    A thin middle-aged man wearing a tuxedo-like outfit with his ck hair slicked back was busy cleaning a wine ss with a cloth at the counter.


    When he saw two young men approaching him, he ced the ss on the table and turned towards them with a friendly expression on his face.


    "What would you like to drink, respected Sirs?"


    As the two of them arrived here for a different purpose, they directly asked for his help.


    "Umm, we''re not here for any drinks. We just wanted to go to the training hall, but there...doesn''t seem to be anything rted to that here. Do you happen to know where we can find the training hall?"


    Felix asked the man while ncing around strangely.


    The man tilted his head a bit and a look of understanding surfaced on his face after a few seconds.


    "Ahh, you two must be newbies. We rarely get new young members here, so that was a weird question to ask."


    Nodding his head, the bartender gave them a deep look as he answered.


    "As for the training hall....well, long story short..." he paused to nce around cautiously and continued.


    "...the person in charge of this ce never bothered to take this facility seriously, so his subordinates, including me, built this ce like how we desired."


    He said with an unusually careless smile, pointing at himself and some of the other people present in the room.


    "We basically turned this ce as our resting spot which barely functions as an actual training hall like how everyone else mentions."


    Felix and Falcon failed to keep a straight face as they showed weird expressions, not believing the absurd story.


    "What!? But...how is that even possible? Did the underworld council not even question you guys for this?"


    The bartender made a proud face as he replied to Falcon''s question.


    "How can they? Our boss is one of the strongest people in the underworld, and as his subordinates, we can do whatever we wish here."


    Seeing the haughty look on the bartender, Falcon groaned and turned to Felix.


    "Damn, what''re we gonna do now? There''s no training hall here, so maybe should we try some of the other facilities then."


    Felix frowned as he really wanted to battle and test out his newfound powers after reaching Rank 1.


    He had especiallye here for the training hall to try using aura for the first time, as he couldn''t do that at the Zero Rank.


    As for the Underworld Arena?


    He couldn''t go there either as there were mostly Zero Rank warriors participating at that ce because the higher ranks refrained from showing off their skills to the crowd to avoid the spread of their information and identity.


    "Sigh...I really wanted to fight though.", Felix said as he shook his head in pity.


    The bartender shrugged, not feeling anything about their situation.


    Falcon suddenly nced around the room, his eyes narrowing as he spoke loudly with a bit of sarcasm.


    "Hmmm, I thought I would get to see a lot of strong people in this training hall or something, but it seems all we got here are a bunch of cowards."


    .


    .


    ....Silence.


    The room turnedpletely quiet, with all the people in the room turning their heads towards them.


    The bartender made a dumbfounded face as he couldn''t say anything, while Felix pulled his taunting teammate closer in a hurry.


    "What the hell are you doing!? Do you want to get your ass beaten or what?", he said rapidly in his ears.


    Falcon patted Felix''s shoulder and gave him an assuring look with a wink.


    "Don''t worry, I know what I''m doing. If there are no fights going on, then we can always create one."


    He shrugged off Felix''s hold and faced back to the crowd who were still giving them the stares.


    "What are y''all looking at? Did you think that was a slip of my tongue? Well, sad to be you but you guys are truly cowards in my eyes."


    Falcon raised the corner of his lips as he mocked them.


    He seemed to be enjoying this as he smirked, especially when he saw a couple of guys standing up from their seats.


    The bartender on the other hand stuttered speechlessly.


    "Y-You..."


    Felix raised his hand to stop him, allowing Falcon to do what he wanted as he remembered the time when people used to force him into fights on Earth.


    ''He''s like those delinquents..."


    Seeing a group of men walking towards them, Falcon smiled cunningly and said.


    "Oh, it seems some of you have guts here or do you just want to refill your sses? Haha."


    The group of five men showed angry expressions on their faces as they neared them, ready to start a fight.


    The strongest of them narrowed his eyes on Falcon and questioned.


    "What do you want kid? Don''t you know how to respect your elders?"


    "Respect the elders? Well, I''ll only do that if you''re stronger than me."


    The man rubbed his biceps and showed a furious face along with his friends.


    "So you want a fight, huh? Don''t cry when you lose."


    Falcon grinned widely as he rushed towards them while grabbing his sword.


    "We''ll see who''s gonna cry for real then!"


    Seeing the guy running to fight them without a care, Felix sighed and followed him with his sword too.


    "Wait for me, Falcon!"


    The five men on the opposite side saw them move and also took out their weapons charging forward under the bartender''s stunned expression.


    "Don''t fucking fight here..."


    But his words were unfortunately drowned by the screams of the seven men who shed against each other in the middle of the bar.


    Among the five, the strongest of them was at the Peak Rank 1, two at the Mid Rank 1 and thest two at the Early Rank 1.


    The crowd gasped at the situation and hurriedly moved away to exclude themselves from the fight, making an empty circle area in the bar.


    Falcon was already deep into the five men''s reach as Felix reached him.


    "Come get me too you fuckers!"


    He shouted and jumped up from a chair while diving towards them.


    Holding the sword with both of his hands mid-flight, he shed with a man who blocked his attack but some consequences followed.


    ''ck Horizon Sword Arts: Assault Impact!''


    Felix put his strength on the sword and pushed away the man a few meters away as he hit the counter.


    Crash!


    The force from the man broke some sses and expensive-looking bottles, while the bartender pulled at his hair in panic.


    "Stop you bastards stop!!"


    His words were again ignored by everyone as Felix turned toward the others.


    "Help me out, Phantom! These guys are super angry."


    Falcon shouted at him while parring off the multiple attacks that wereing in all directions.


    Seeing him fight like that, Felix realised he was not called one of the strongest zero rank fighters in the underworld for nothing.


    "Coming!"


    He ran over with an excited smile, all the while feeling something deep within himself trembling.


    That feeling was making him feel as if he had gotten stronger while it was also gradually decreasing in amount.


    ''Is this aura?''


    He wondered as he attacked the other men and took their attention from Falcon.


    ''ck Horizon Sword Arts: Striking des!''


    Two men attacked him with their weapons, but he danced between their moves and easily dodged them.


    His sword on the other hand slithered like a snake around the two men and left slight wounds on their bodies.


    The two men were surprised at his movements, but they quickly became alert and more cautious as they stopped looking down on the two young men.


    The bar turned into a frenzy of shouts and ngs as they fought recklessly while the crowd cheered them on the sides.


    "Ughh...please...just stop.", the bartender cried until his tears came out but he was just a normal human so he couldn''t do a thing.


    Tables and chairs flew about and crashed everywhere, turning the ce upside down as the crowd just enjoyed the show.


    No one came forward to stop the fight as the rest of them were from different factions, and trouble for others meant enjoyment for them.


    The reason only Rank 1 subordinates were present here at the training hall was because warriors above that had important jobs and would be busy most of the time.


    This left only the five of them at the Rank 1 to deal with the two troublemakers.


    While exchanging attacks with the two men, Felix moved near Falcon until the both of them were fighting with their backs against each other.


    "Are you keeping up, Phantom?", Falcon asked maniacally.


    Parrying off an attack, Felix grinned in satisfaction as he replied.


    "Yeah, this is nothing for me!"


    The two of them danced in the middle of the bar, their swords weaving through the air as it shined under the bright chandeliers.


    The five men including the one who had fallen near the counter were gritting their teeth in irritation as they couldn''t seem to defeat the two at all.


    After a few minutes of struggle and panting, four of the men had fallen down while Falcon and Felix were still fighting with the strongest one.


    It couldn''t be called fighting as the two of them were just bullying the man with him in between them.


    Both of them had kept aside their weapons and were using their fists and legs to hit the tired man.


    "You had one job."


    Bam!


    The man was hit on the face by Falcon.


    "...and that was to-"


    Bam!


    Another one from behind by Felix.


    "..build a training hall-"


    Bam!


    He spurted out blood from his mouth.


    "But you went ahead-"


    Bam!


    He groaned in pain.


    "and made it a bar..."


    Crash!


    The man was kicked on his ass as he tumbled and crashed on the chairs, his sorry sight making the crowd gulp in pity.


    Falcon grabbed the fallen man''s cors and was about to continue raining down punches when something happened.


    "Creaak~"


    The door of the room slowly opened up and a man wearing a one-eye patch on his face stepped in.


    This interrupted the whole fiasco as everyone including Falcon and Felix turned to look at the man''s direction weirdly.


    Only the fallen man and the bartender had their eyes lit up when they saw who had returned.


    Meanwhile, the man stood confused at the entrance as he saw the scene, and took a few steps back to check what was written on the door beforeing back in.


    "Hmmm, I''m not at the wrong ce. So anybody mind exining me what in the hell is going on here?"

 Chapter 120: Sir Graham

    The ce turnedpletely silent as a man wearing a one eyed patch on his face stood calmly at the door.


    "B-Boss! You''re right on time!"


    The bartender jumped over the broken counter and made his way to the man with excitement as the crowd hushed among themselves.


    When he arrived beside the man, he made a pitiful face and pointed his finger at Felix and Falcon.


    "Boss, It''s those guys! They were the ones who made trouble and almost destroyed the whole ba- I mean...the training hall."


    Falcon hurriedly left the fallen man''s cor and stood up with his hands raised up innocently.


    "Ahaha....this you know....we were just doing what you would normally do in a training hall, yeah."


    He tried toe up with a reason but the man with the eye patch remained expressionless as he looked at the bartender.


    "You. Tell me what happened here without hiding anything."


    The man asked with a cold voice that sent a chill down the spine of everyone present in the room.


    The bartender gulped in fear as he answered honestly with rapid nods.


    "Y-Yes...So what happened was, I was just cleaning the sses as usual..."


    The bartender told him the story, which was correct to the point of perfection as he didn''t leave anything behind.


    He even included the crowd''s reaction to the scene which made them curse him under their breaths.


    After he learnt about the truth, the man nodded and then narrowed his eyes on the bartender.


    "Alright, I''ve got the general idea of what happened. But before I deal with the troublemakers, shouldn''t there be something you wanna tell me regarding this...bar?"


    His words made the bartender jerk up in agitation as he started sweating with his eyes  moving around in panic.


    "Umm, boss. This....this wasn''t m-my idea..."


    The man red at his subordinate in dissatisfaction, thinking he would have to punish all of his men for going against the council''s rules.


    ''...hmm but this was supposed to be my job.''


    He sighed and shook his head, realising maybe it was his own fault for not giving them proper instructions and instead leaving the city for hunting strong foes.


    The man then turned and started walking towards the middle of the bar.


    ''Let''s deal with the two troublemakers first.''


    Though his subordinates made a terrible mistake, that didn''t mean he liked them getting hurt by someone other than himself.


    As the man walked in their direction, Falcon moved toward Felix in panic as he whispered.


    "Oh shit, what are we going to do down. This guy looks super strong..."


    Felix on the other hand had his eyes locked on the man from the beginning as he remembered meeting him a few days ago.


    He narrowed his eyes in contemtion and arrived at a decision after deciding to give it a shot.


    "Don''t worry, I''ve got this.", he replied to Falcon who raised his brows in concern.


    He was about to say something to warn him but Felix walked forward and calmly smiled at the man.


    "Hello there, Sir Graham. I''m Phantom, we met the other day along with Mr.Dealer. Do you remember me?"


    The man paused in his steps as he took a deep look at the person infront of him, a few secondster, his one eye lit up as a small smile surfaced on his cold face.


    "Oh it''s you, Phantom. I remember you, how could I forget when you fought so well that day and defeated that drugged goon from the dark guilds."


    Graham suddenly turned from a stoic and cold person to a sweet uncle, as he remembered his friend''s subordinate whom he had wanted to steal.


    Felix sighed in relief under his breath, thanking the gods that the man had remembered him.


    The people around them became speechless as they were expecting some confrontation, especially the bartender who opened his mouth so wide that a whole wine ss could easily fit in.


    Falcon narrowed his eyes in confusion as he seemed to have heard of the name ''Graham'' somewhere, but he couldn''t remember where exactly.


    "What are you doing here, Phantom? Were you looking for me after hearing my deal from that day?"


    Graham asked curiously as he ignored the broken and chaotic looking ''bar'' of his.


    "Uhh that...", Felix stuttered as he tried to show a bit of hesitation on his face.


    "...yeah, I was thinking about it."


    Graham noticed him hesitating, so he walked toward a table that was still looking fine with some chairs and called him there.


    "Phantom,e here. We can patiently talk here whatever you want."


    Felix nodded and sat at the table, while Graham gestured at the bartender.


    "You, go and bring some non-alcoholic juice for us."


    The bartender had a dumbfounded face, but he nodded nkly and walked over to the broken counter to find some juice, his steps looking a bit bleak.


    Graham then nced at the many people standing around them and released a bit of his dominative aura.


    "Scram from here before I personally make you."


    His words echoed throughout the room and scared the crowd as they all took a step back in fear and then started moving towards the exit while gulping hard.


    They perfectly knew who the person infront of them was, and they didn''t wanted to annoy him even in their dreams.


    Now other than the two at the table, only Falcon and the five injured guys remained in the room, including the grumpy bartender who was busy cooking up some non-alcoholic juice.


    Graham rxed on his seat and turned his eyes to Felix as he asked.


    "So, tell me. What did you wanted to say?"


    The boy kept silent as he forced himself to be calm.


    ''Sigh, this is all Falcon''s fault for starting a fight.... and now I''ve got to convince Sir Graham. But there''s only one way he would forgive us for making such a scene at his ce..''


    Felix narrowed his eyes but didn''t say anything as he reamained pondering about the situation.


    The bartender arrived beside them and ced some sses of juice on the table as he nced between the two.


    "B-Boss, this..."


    Graham raised one of his brow and the bartender quickly shut up, scared to angering  him even though he was feeling injustice.


    "Pick up the injured ones and give them the healing potions, you have them here right? And then start cleaning up this ce along with them."


    Graham rapidly gave the bartender many orders, who felt like spurting out blood for the unfairness, but he held it back and nodded with tearful eyes.


    "Y-Yes, boss...sniff... I''ll dly do it."


    He walked back, pushing Falcon with his shoulder on the way, but he was the one who tripped instead as he was weaker.


    ".....life is so cruel.", he sighed as he forcibly woke up the injured guys with ps.


    Meanwhile, Felix drank a sip of his juice and turned to Graham as he arrived to a conclusion.


    "I''ve decided, Sir Graham. I would like toe along with you to explore the forests."


    A smile slowly inched at his lips without his knowledge, but he had said so only after careful thinking.


    Even though he had reached Rank 1, he wasn''t arrogant into thinking he could now face stronger foes as there was always someone more stronger than him somewhere out there.


    He also didn''t want any dangerous incidents happening again like when he had encountered the Rank 4 man from the dark guilds.


    So going along with Sir Graham to hunt in the deep forest seems to be the most suitable option for him considering there was just a week left for the guild wars to begin.


    A delightful smile emerged on Graham''s face as he emptied his ss and heard the boy agree.


    "That''s great! I knew you would be interested in following me into the forests. Come on let''s go, what''re we waiting for then?"


    He quickly stood up from the chair and grabbed Felix''s arm, making his way over to the door.


    Words couldn''t describe how excited he was right now as there was nobody before Felix who had willingly agreed toe along with him deep into the monstrous forests.


    "Huh? W-We''re going there right now?", Felix asked weirdly.


    Graham nodded with a wide smile because his mood was starting to get better as he was also running away from the busy meetings of the council.


    "Of course, we are. This ce is boring as hell.", he expressed like a child who was bunking the school.


    Felix had nothing to say to him as he let himself get pulled by Graham, but then he turned around and shouted at his teammate.


    "Falcon! I''ll be back after a few days, can you please inform my friend who''s wearing a green mask in Mr.Dealer''s hideout about it? Thank you.!"


    Those were hisst words heard inside the room as Sir Graham pulled him out of there in a hurry and escaped out of the chaotic underworld.


    Falcon stood confused in the ruined ''bar'' as he rubbed his head.


    "What the hell just happened...."


    He didn''t know what was the deal between the two of them and wondered what they were going to do in the forests.


    Suddenly, he heard a devious giggle behind him which made him turn around curiously.


    There, the bartender had an evil smile on his face as he muttered under his breath.


    "Hehehe, that bastard is going to die now. Following our boss into the forests? That''spletely suicidal...but why do I care kekeke..."


    A shadow slowly loomed over the man as he turned to look up, and the twisted face of Falcon made him widen his eyes in shock.


    "So you were saying my friend''s going to die, huh?"


    The bartender dropped his butt onto the floor, moving backwards as his previous attitude was nowhere to be seen.


    "I...I didn''t s-say anything...p-please let me go...", he cried real tears this time in submission.


    "Well, I''ll let you go...."


    Falcon rubbed his fists as a crazy grin widened on his face.


    "....after you pay for what you said that is."

 Chapter 121: Tribal Village.

    Edenmont City.


    Outside the northern city gates.


    After Felix disyed his ID card and Graham his fake ID card, the both of them walked out of Edenmont City and started making their way into the forest.


    As they passed by the crowd leaving behind the main road and entering the wilderness, Graham said as they walked.


    "You can remove your mask now, umm...Felix was it?"


    The boy gave a wry smile and removed his mask, letting his silver hair fall behind his ears and his crystal-red eyes be clear to the world.


    "So Mr.Dealer told you everything about me? I guess he''s simr to Steve that way....", Felix said with a chuckle.


    "Yeah, you can never trust that guy with anything...."


    Graham nodded as he replied and then narrowed his eyes on Felix with growing interest.


    "Hmm...Not only are you talented in fighting, but you''re also pretty handsome. Seems like you''re going to be ady killer in the near future."


    Felix rubbed his head awkwardly and responded with a cough.


    "Ahem, I don''t think so...cuz I''ve got no experience with women. In fact, they won''t even approach me for who I am."


    He muttered in despondent while slightly stretching his lips.


    Graham eyed the boy with a certain look and then looked forward at the peaceful forest where the sunlight filtered through the leaves, creating a tranquil atmosphere.


    "Women huh....they''re a strange bunch for sure.", Graham said lightly.


    His words made Felix curious as he asked back in wonder.


    "How about you, Sir Graham? Do you have any experience with women?"


    Under the shadows of a tall tree, Graham suddenly stopped his steps and made a lost expression on his face.


    Felix too stopped there and stared at the man, whose previous dominative aura had turned mncholic.


    ''What''s with that face....did he get rejected or something?''


    As Felix didn''t want to spend the whole day gazing at the forest and being sentimental with the man, he called out to him.


    "Umm are you fine, Sir Graham?"


    The man blinked his eyes at his words as rity returned to him and turned to look at the boy with a strange smile.


    "Ah, I''m fine. That was just...forget it..."


    He waved his hand, scoffing while shaking his head and then looked ahead at the forest.


    "Why don''t we dive deeper into the forest? There are rarely any strong monsters we can hunt in the vicinity of the city."


    "Sure, I was thinking the same.", Felix replied happily as he was finally going to face some action.


    Felix moved his hand over his shortsword, ready to dash into the forest along with Sir Graham.


    But before he could take a step forward, the man abruptly grabbed him by the cor and lifted him from the ground.


    "W-Wait! What are you doing?"


    Felix shouted in confusion as he kicked his legs in the air, and the man replied to him with a chuckle.


    "Cheh, did you really think we were going to run all the way into the deep forest?"


    Graham asked with a smirk.


    Felix calmed himself on his hold and asked the man hurriedly.


    "Huh? Then how are we going to go there? Don''t tell me you''re going to throw me far away into the forest like an arrow...."


    Graham shook his head in amusement and replied.


    "No-"  he suddenly kicked himself up from the ground into the air along with Felix.


    "''-We''re going to fly over there."


    Once he was in the air, his body started floating until he reached above the tall trees and sped into the distance.


    Felix who was flying in the air for the first time resisted the wind that was moulding his face as he shouted out excitedly.


    "Holy shit! I am flyyyyyiiiinnnnggg!!!"


    *****


    Twilight Chaos Guild Building.


    Main Hall, Lounge.


    A beautiful blonde-haireddy sat on a sofa calmly while sipping her tea.


    Before her sat a slightly simr looking blonde haired young man who was currently staring down at the floor in guilt.


    Elsa ced her cup on a table between them and asked seriously.


    "So, is that all that happened on your mission? Or is there something else you''ve not mentioned?"


    Roven raised his head to look at her and nodded firmly.


    "Yes sis, that was all."


    Elsa narrowed her eyes on him as she questioned in a terrible mood.


    "Do you know what you''ve done? I know that it was the guild''s fault for giving you an unsuitable mission, but that doesn''t justify your act of hiding a forbidden technique and using it without any knowledge."


    Roven bit his lips as he responded with a guilty tone.


    "I....I know. It was all my fault. I''m not a worthy leader-"


    "I''m not ming anyone here."


    His words got cut off by Elsa who sighed and looked at her brother with pity.


    "I''m saying how careless you young ones are at things rted to getting stronger. The consequences of using a forbidden technique without any of its knowledge is unimaginable."


    "Just look at Steve, if it wasn''t for a Rare Rank potion, then he wouldn''t have woken up. Not until a few yearster."


    She continued while taking a sip of her tea and reminded the boy.


    "This matter should be considered confidential from now on. I''ve already mentioned it to Steve, and he has promised me to never use that technique again. The same goes for you and Eric, well he''s a mage so there''s no possibility of him using it."


    Miss Elsa gracefully stood up from the sofa and looked down on Roven withplete seriousness as she dered.


    "By the orders of the guild leader, if the both of you are to ever use the forbidden technique to forcibly manifest aura again, then you will be directly removed from the guild."


    The harsh punishment of the order made Roven break in a cold sweat, but he didn''t resist and bowed his head as he agreed.


    "I understand."


    Elsa nodded as her face rxed and softly patted her little brother''s head.


    "There....you''re a grown man now. You have to understand that there are a lot of responsibilities on your shoulders now and that mistakes can always happen. But-"


    Roven raised his head, staring at his elder sister who was termed the genius mage of their guild.


    "-don''t forget that mistakes happen when there is more room for improvement."


    She smiled softly and turned around, waving her hand as her lithe body moved away.


    "I have work to do now. So don''t remain sad and go train yourself to get stronger. Or else you''ll be left behind by your teammates."


    Roven stood up from the sofa, a small smile at the corner of his lips as he stretched his body.


    "Haa...you''re right. I''ve got to grow strong and improve now so that I can be a better leader."


    He stopped having any depressing thoughts from the recent mission failure and the harsh consequences, turning the sad feelings into emotions that motivated him.


    Roven walked away towards the training room, a new mentality growing in him from his previousid-back attitude towards life.


    *****


    Deep into the forest.


    Two meny alert on a thick branch of a tree.


    Their eyes were locked onto a tribal vige of monsters, who had an average height of 3 meters and muscr dark green-skinned bodies with two tusksing out from their mouths.


    "Let me guess, are they called Orcs?"


    Felix asked quietly as he kept his eyes on the barbarous monsters.


    "Yeah, you''re right. But that''s basic knowledge...."


    Graham replied without a care, not having any thoughts that the boy beside him was a transmigrator.


    Felix shrugged and continued staring at the monsters who were maniacally sparring with each other.


    They used their bare fists, although they had weapons on the side, and fought with each other ferociously as if they were not of the same tribe.


    Seeing them reminded Felix again that this world was not a peaceful and easily habitable ce.


    As powerful monsters like these wandered around the world, weak people or the general popce had no way of surviving against them.


    If a bunch of these orcs attacked a small human vige, then their only option would be to escape or get eaten by the monsters.


    This is what happens usually throughout this world, unlike the peaceful world Felix hade from, where except for the fights amongst the humans themselves and the natural disasters, there were not many dangers.


    Felix turned to the man as he pointed at the tribe of a couple of hundred orcs they had found many miles deep into the forest.


    "Can I face them all alone?", there was terrifying thirst in his tone as he asked.

 Chapter 122: Facing the Orcs.

    Graham rolled his one eye and muttered speechlessly.


    "ording to my analysis, there are around 180 Rank 1 Orcs, 16 Rank 2 Orcs and 2 Rank 3 Orcs in this Tribal Vige. And you think you can handle them all alone?"


    Hearing the powerful lineup of the Orc monsters, Felix almost fell down from the tree and broke up in a cold sweat.


    ''Damn...I didn''t expect there would be so strong monsters in this vige. It seems I have to create something like an inspect skill sooner.''


    ncing around at the vige from above, Felix turned to the man beside him, and his eyes lit up as he got an idea.


    "How about this, Sir Graham? I''ll act as bait and take the majority of the monsters away from here and then defeat them in the wild forest, while you''ll face the strongest of them who''ll ignore me for my Rank 1 strength."


    Graham raised his brow in amusement, hearing the boy''s simple n, and nodded with a shrug.


    "I''ve got no problem with that. But will you be alright against so many of them?"


    He wasn''t scared of any Rank 3 monsters as he was above that Rank, but he was not confident that Felix could face the others all alone.


    Felix smirked and grasped the hilt of his shortsword for some action.


    "I''m not as weak as you think. And there''s also many tricks up my sleeves, so don''t worry about me."


    Graham nodded and patted Felix''s shoulder, giving him a thumbs up.


    "Good luck then, shout out my name if you''re in any trouble."


    "Haha, I won''t. That''ll be embarrassing.", Felix chuckled.


    Graham shook his head and muttered.


    "If acting shameless can let you survive, then don''t hesitate to be shameless."


    Felix was impressed by his words as he nodded with a grin and jumped off the branch of the tree as he shouted.


    "Then I''ll act shameless in order to survive!"


    Graham nodded with a satisfied expression, crossing his arms as he watched the boy''s spectacle.


    "Now, let''s see how you hunt."


    Felixnded on the ground as the sand made dust and sound, but the Orcs didn''t notice him at all as they were busy with their sparring and cheering.


    He activated Silent Steps, which should work even on Rank 3 beings as he had advanced a Rank.


    Unsheathing his sword, he moved near the tribal vige and sneaked inside without alerting anyone.


    The tall Orcs who were almost twice his height towered around him, but he roamed between them easily and made his way towards the middle.


    In the middle of the vige, two Rank 2 Orcs were sparring with each other, their war cry and thunderous roars echoing in the forest as the rest of the Orcs cheered them with the same energy.


    Felix arrived in the middle where the sparring was taking ce and smiled evilly.


    "Let me take the stage.", he said with a chuckle.


    His words got drowned under the screams of the barbaric monsters, but his next actions proved otherwise.


    Sprinting towards the sparring area, Felix used one of his skills as he deactivated Silent Steps.


    "Dust st!"


    A sudden wind picked up from his side, bringing along stones and debris as it flew over to the two fighting Orcs.


    The surrounding monsters were surprised at the appearance of a human among them, but they didn''t act chaotic and instead started cheering louder as they thought that only one Rank 1 human couldn''t do anything to them.


    The two Rank 2 Orcs were hit by the mini storm of dust amidst their spar, and they couldn''t dodge it as they didn''t even notice it during their busy fight.


    The two orcs covered their face in panic as the dust disturbed their sight and breathing, but it also made them alert as they used aura to strengthen their body and skin.


    Felix was still a few meters away from them and used another of his skills.


    "Earth Spikes!"


    The two orcs had still not recovered from the dust as they waved their arms around, but to their dismay, a few sharp spikes emerged from the ground.


    The spikes hit them from below and punctured into their skins, but the wounds were shallow as they were prepared for any attacks.


    ''They''re smarter than your average monsters, huh...''


    Felix narrowed his eyes as he reached the dusty region and shed his sword at the wounds of one of the orcs.


    "Gwaahh!!"


    The orc screamed in pain, its eyes widening in the craze as it started randomly swinging its arms.


    Felix was quick and dodged the attacks before using one of his sword techniques on the same orc.


    "ck Horizon Sword Arts: Assault Impact!"


    His sword hit the Orc''s back, pushing it away onto the other orc as they both lost their bnce.


    "Earth Spikes!"


    Felix didn''t waste the opportunity and hurriedly used the skill again.


    Spikes emerged out again from the ground where the two orcs were going to fall and stabbed into their bodies as they were about to crash on the ground.


    This time, they couldn''t avoid the attack, and their force of gravity increased both of their weights, letting the spikes easily pierce into their bodies.


    Blood sttered on the ground as the rest of the orcs stood stupefied, watching the result of the sh.


    They didn''t expect a single Rank 1 human could defeat two Rank 2 orcs, but it nevertheless happened, which angered them all as they started to rush forward.


    But Felix didn''t care for their reactions as he hadn''t heard the notification from the system yet.


    He jumped above the two orcs that had fallen atop each other with no movements and stabbed his sword inside the orc at the top.


    "Corrosion."


    He activated his torturous skill that passed baleful energy from his body into the orcs through his sword, letting it flow endlessly to the both of them who were in touch.


    The two orcs who were still alive hideously grunted in pain as the corrosive power destroyed their bodies.


    A few secondster, the system chimed.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 100 skill points.]


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 100 skill points.]


    Felix stood atop the bloodied corpses of the two orcs, his crimson eyes turning brighter when he heard the notification of a hundred skill points.


    "I''m going to kill y''all...", he muttered in a calm voice.


    A voice that betrayed the expression he was showing to the orcs at this moment.


    The running orcs froze at their spots, the silhouette of the single human turning massive as they felt like they were being stared at by their predator.


    "KRRAAHHH!!"


    One of the Orcs roared aloud, its Rank 3 aura spreading through the area as everyone woke up from their thoughts and returned to reality before roaring along with it.


    Even Felix was rmed by the roar as he remembered that there were some strong existences here who could easily harm him.


    He jumped up from the corpses andnded on the ground, his figure sinking underground as he used ''Earth Swimming''.


    "Why don''t we y a game of hide and seek for now...."


    Just as the orcs reached him, his body sank underground, leaving them confused and shocked.


    They searched around for him but couldn''t find a single clue of his existence in the surroundings.


    "Yo, I''m over here!"


    Felix called out to them from the edge of the vige, waving his hands at them with a mischievous grin.


    The barbaric orcs became bloodthirsty as they roared once again and grabbed any of the weapons they could find before marching towards Felix in a hurry.


    Almost half of the orcs in the vige had shown up and were running towards him with hatred and killing intent.


    Seeing the tall and mighty Orcs getting near to him, Felix took a deep breath and turned around before dashing into the forest.


    "Agility Burst!"


    He sped up and disappeared into the forest, bringing along with him the angry orcs who wanted revenge for the death of their tribal members.


    Graham watched everything from the top of a tree, his lips forming an impressed smile as he muttered.


    "That kid sure is zesty..."


    A powerful aura from the ground suddenly alerted him, turning his attention towards one of the Rank 3 Orcs who was moving in the direction Felix had gone.


    "You''re not going anywhere."


    Graham vanished from the top of the tree and suddenly appeared on the ground just before the Rank 3 Orc, who was rushing onwards.


    At the sight of a new human being appearing in front of it, the Rank 3 Orc opened its mouth to let out a frightening roar.


    "Oh, shut up."


    The Orc who was about to roar found that it couldn''t make a sound at all, almost as if its mind had stopped sending signals to his vocal chord.


    It tried moving its body, but there was a strange force that held it in ce, not allowing it to even move it''s muscles.


    Graham walked forward, his hands behind his back in a rxed position.


    When he arrived beside the monstrous Orc, his head only reached its chest, but contrary to their sizes, it was the Orc who was feeling terror at the moment.


    "At normal times, I wouldn''t care for weaklings like you...", Graham muttered with a calm voice as he raised his hand, pressing it on the frozen Orc''s chest.


    "...but currently, there''s a kid I''m looking after. Which means the only option left for you is.....death."


    Graham''s hand that was over the Orc''s chest brightened in light, before the light engulfed the entire body of the Orc as it stood immovable.


    A few secondster the light died down, allowing the surrounding stunned Orcs to witness a shocking scene of theplete disappearance of one of their Rank 3 leader.


    That day, every monster in the forest would experience the duo who had a great knack for hunting, marking their presence as the unavoidable predators of the entire forest.

 Chapter 123: One by One.

    In the wilderness.


    A group of around a hundred Orcs were roaring and screaming in wrath, chasing behind a silver-haired boy who was almost half their height.


    The scene would look horrifying and pitiful from the perspective of any person watching the boy, but the said boy had a grin on his face that revealed his pure excitement.


    ''Now I can kill them all one by one. The Rank 1 Orcs can be ignored as they don''t give me any point skills, so I should focus more on the Rank 2 Orcs...''


    In the dense forest, Felix could have an advantage in going on an assassination rampage with the use of his Earth-rted skills.


    Firstly, he distanced himself as far as he could from the tribal vige to prevent them from getting reinforcements and retreating.


    Secondly, he chose an area with many trees and congested ground where therge Orcs could face trouble moving around in groups.


    After doing all that, Felix stopped running and turned around, facing the Orcs who were still rushing towards him.


    "Here Ie."


    Under the intense stares of the approaching Orcs, his body started to sink into the ground, which rmed them as they hurried towards him.


    Unfortunately, they arrived a bitte at his spot as his existence hadpletely disappeared from the scene.


    "GRAAWHH!!"


    The Orcs bellowed in hate, for again losing the human who had tantly yed with them and mocked them on their faces.


    Meanwhile, Felix swam underground, reaching a corner of the area as he poked his head out and started choosing a target out of the many Orcs.


    "Let''s see...", he narrowed his eyes and searched for a nice prey.


    The angry Orcs seemed to have taken a  pledge on the spot to take their revenge and kill him as they formed groups amongst themselves and separated in the forest to hunt him down.


    Out of hundreds of the Orcs, eight of them were at the level of Rank 2, and every one of them led a dozen Orcs in search of him.


    So altogether, the hundreds of Orcs had divided themselves into eight groups, moving in different directions, which made Felix arch his lips in delight.


    "They''re really smart to divide themselves and make it easy for me. For providing me such an excellent opportunity, maybe I should reward them....with a quick death."


    His eyes zed with a sharp glint as he moved underground and made his way towards a group of Orcs, nning their execution.


    A few minutester, he had arrived at a lonely stream after following behind the Orcs.


    Deciding that it was a good distance from the rest of the group, Felix initiated his attack.


    "Quicksand!"


    The earth beneath the Orcs softened and started to sink their legs in, but the monsters were alert and cautious, so they quickly noticed the change.


    The Orcs jumped out of the area surrounding the quicksand, spreading around in a circle with the centre area turning semi solid, not allowing them to move there.


    Felix used this chance and came out of the ground, rushing towards the disoriented Orcs.


    As the Orcs were already alert from the sudden quicksand attack, they quickly noticed him and raised their weapons, charging at him head on.


    At this time, only six of the Rank 1 Orcs were attacking him as the rest were separated with the quicksand area in the way.


    This eased him a lot as he used a few ''Agility Bursts'' and effortlessly killed all six of them with the help of his Sword Techniques.


    After he yed the first wave of six orcs, the rest of the group arrived on the other side, numbering five Rank 1 and one Rank 2 Orcs.


    They heavily stomped on the ground and rushed at him, the Rank 2 Orc roaring in anger at the death of its tribemates as it led the charge.


    "Why are you shouting? When I''m doing all this for you, honey."


    Felix muttered sarcastically as he pointed his shortsword at the Rank 2 Orc, eyeing him as if he were some beautiful jewel.


    When the Orcs had reached ten meters within his space, he used two of skills consequently.


    "Dust st! Earth Spikes!"


    A mini storm hit the charging Orcs, nketing them with mud and debris, which stopped their assault.


    But that wasn''t all as several spikes shot out from the ground, piercing into their bodies as blood spurted out like a flood and mixed up with the flowing dust.


    The Orcs grunted in pain and fought against the attacks, but they couldn''t resist the strange power of the earth skills.


    On top of that, Felix decided to directly interface, running into their disoriented surroundings and swinging his sword without a mercy.


    The Rank 2 Orc prevailed through the pain and tried to attack Felix, but the boy dodged him easily and went for the others as he wanted to leave him forst.


    After killing all the Rank 1 Orcs, Felix strolled towards their leader, his sword drenched in blood which dripped on the ground endlessly.


    The only Orc left which was at Rank 2 gnawed its lips in fury, its eyes widening in unquenchable anger as it limped towards the human while tightly gripping its weapon.


    Felix didn''t let the Orc suffer in pain anymore, as he used an ''Agility Burst'' to dash towards it and neatly chopped off its head, giving it a quick death.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 100 skill points.]


    The headless body of the Orc fell with a ''thud'', bringing a grin on Felix''s face as he heard the notification from the system.


    "One down and seven more to go...."


    After giving a brief nce at the blood-stained battlefield, Felix turned around and left the ce.


    He moved in the direction where another group of Orcs had gone, remembering the way from his memories.


    *****


    A few minutester, Felix hid behind a tree as he peeked at a group of Orcs who were searching around an area for any of his clues.


    ''I better aim for only the Rank 2 Orc this time...''


    He thought as taking out all of them would be time consuming and seemed unnecessary as it also wouldn''t benefit him in any way.


    Deciding to do that, he brainstormed and rapidly tried toe up with an idea to avoid any meaningless fights with the Rank 1 Orcs.


    ''Should I just assassinate the Rank 2 Orc?''


    He then shook his head.


    ''No, I don''t have a strong one shot attack that could kill a Rank 2 being.''


    Pondering as he nced around the surroundings, the tall trees in the forest made his eyes lit up.


    ''Why didn''t I think of this before!''


    Felix smiled as he came up with an idea, and used the Silent Steps skills to sneak his way towards a tall tree that was the nearest to the groupd of Orcs.


    He nced at the Orcs while hiding behind the tree and calcted their positions, especially of the Rank 2 Orc.


    ''Let''s try this.'', Felix gulped in anticipation,  before moving some steps away from the tree and using his skill.


    ''Earth Spikes!''


    He created spikes which emerged out from below the roots of the tall tree and destroyed the support the tree was getting from the ground.


    Later, he created some more spikes which attacked the tree from his side, pushing it forward as the entire tree inclined in the direction of the monsters.


    The disturbance alerted the Orcs who turned their head in Felix''s direction and started walking over in a careful manner.


    ''Damn, this tree is a lot sturdier than it looks!''


    Felix cursed as he unsheathed his shortsword and shed at the tree using his sword technique.


    ''ck Horizon Sword Arts: Assault Impact!''


    The force from the attack pushed the tree forward, as it rapidly got uprooted and started falling in the opposite direction.


    "Yes!"


    Felix cheered up, watching the tall tree fall.


    But the Orcs were horrified, as they witnessed a massive treeing down from the sky and falling down on their heads.


    The branches of the tall tree broke from the friction against the other trees, but it couldn''t stop its fall as it brought doom to the running Orcs.


    BOOM!


    Therge tree crashed on the ground, its massive size picking up a lot of dust and sending a loud sound echoing throughout the forest.


    Felix had already distanced himself from the tree knowing it would cause such destruction, but the actual scene had left him speechless as he widened his eyes in shock.


    He couldn''t voice out any word but his eyes roamed around the area, noticing the grunting Orcs and of course his favourite Rank 2 Orc, who was now separated from the rest of the group.


    ''Was that too much?''


    He pondered as he made his way towards the Rank 2 Orc, pointing his sword at it while he stood atop the fallen tree.


    "You caused too much trouble, now die."


    The confused Orc remained frozen at the shocking event, before getting attacked by several spikes and ast stab in its heart, ending its life.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 100 skill points.]

 Chapter 124: Surrounded.

    "Two down, now six left..."


    Felix jumped down from the trunk of the fallen tree after killing the Rank 2 Orc.


    He surveyed his surroundings and detected many Orcs gathering in his direction.


    "That was too loud I guess....", he smiled wryly as the sound of the tall tree crashing down must have alerted the nearby Orcs.


    ''Oh well, I better start the show before every one of them arrives.''


    Felix flicked the blood off his sword and started running towards another group of Orcs, ignoring the wounded Rank 1 Orcs around him.


    When he reached near to the group while under the effect of his ''Silent Steps'' skill, he initiated the confrontation.


    ''Quicksand!''


    Thend a few meters before the Orcs started to soften, turning into a sludgy area.


    A few secondster the Orcs who were rushing at the scene arrived there, and one by one started to sink into the ground.


    They didn''t feel anything at first as their attention was on the massive fallen tree at the front, but after stepping deeper into the quicksand, they finally felt the struggle.


    "Khweeh?!"


    The Rank 2 Orc who was leading the group shrieked in confusion when it found that it couldn''t take out its legs from the ground.


    The other Orcs too struggled, pulling and pushing at each other toe out of the quicksand, but that only made them sink deeper.


    Felix suddenly appeared out of nowhere from a corner and used another skill as he dashed over.


    "Earth Spikes!"


    A dozen spikes emerged out from the quicksand area, all of them striking at the Rank 2 Orc.


    The Orc was already in an alert state, so when he saw the earth below him changing and forming sharp spikes, he hurriedly started swinging his weapon.


    It was able to defend itself from a few of the spikes, but when the attacks came from all directions, the Orc got stabbed and suffered from several of the sharp spikes.


    Felix skipped over from the outer region of the quicksand by jumping on the earthen spikes and arrived beside the Rank 2 Orc while still standing on one of the spikes.


    "Let me end your pain."


    He raised his shortsword into the sky, and under the horrified gazes of the nearby Orcs, Felix performed a clean cut, directly cleaving off the Rank 2 Orc''s neck while it was constrained by the spikes.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 100 skill points.]


    The death of the Orc seemed to have angered the rest of the Orcs as they roared in unwillingness and started thrashing around the quicksand to move towards the human.


    Felix saw that he waspletely surrounded by the dozen Orcs in the middle of the quicksand as he calmly stood on one of the spikes.


    The Orcs raised their weapons in bloodlust, wildly charging at Felix as they thought they had gotten him for sure this time.


    But amid their chaos, Felix smirked teasingly and dropped down from the spike, his figure merging into the quicksand ground as he disappeared from their sights.


    When the Orcs finally struggled off the semi-solid ground and arrived at the scene, all that was left there was the headless corpse of the Rank 2 Orc with no traces of the human.


    "Ghraaawhh!!"


    The Orcs roared in frustration and anger as they again failed to kill the human who was hunting their kinfolk.


    *****


    On a different corner of the forest.


    A silver-haired boy came out from the ground with a satisfied smile on his face.


    "Three dead and five more to go..."


    Including the first two Orcs he had killed at the vige, he had now killed five Orcs, giving him a total of 500 skill points.


    "This is way better than getting only 10 skill points for every kill. I guess that''s why the strongest always gets the most benefits."


    With an excited gleam of a hunter in his ruby eyes, Felix looked in the direction of the fallen tree and noticed two new groups of Orcs arriving from a different location.


    He started sneaking his way towards them using Silent Steps and hid at a spot behind a tree where the two groups would eventually meet.


    ''Terra Drain.''


    As he waited, Felix activated his healing skill and absorbed the plentiful nutrients directly from the earth to replenish his stamina and vitality.


    Though it didn''t require him to have mana or any other energy to use the skills he created, using them without a limit would put a strain on his stamina and mental health.


    That was why he too needed adequate rest and meditation to recover from his tired state unless he acquired a skill that would neglect these side effects.


    ''That kind of skill would cost a lot considering its usefulness. I should think of this in the future, and for now, create skills that would aid me in all theing situations...''


    Healing himself as he stood unmoving under the shadow of the tree, Felix sank in his thoughts and remained there until he felt the aura of the Orcs arriving.


    He peeked out and found that the two groups of Orcs had arrived and were busy helping the other wounded Orcs.


    The Rank 2 Orcs leading the two groups were checking on the corpse of their fellow kinfolk, their expressions a mix of fury and...fear.


    The both of them discussed something amongst themselves and startedmanding the rest of the Orcs to do something.


    The other Orcs nodded and scattered away in different directions, leaving the area of the vicinity.


    Meanwhile, the two Rank 2 Orcs stayed together as they surveyed their surroundings.


    Felix who saw all this happening had a strange look on his face as he muttered.


    "What''re they doing...?"


    As the other Rank 1 Orcs moved away from the area, he realised that this may be a good opportunity to take out the two of them without too much interference.


    But something was bugging him at the corner of his mind as if he was being outsmarted by the Orcs.


    He shook his head and concentrated his attention back on the two of them who were the only Orcs left in the surroundings.


    ''This is a nice chance, I better deal with these two before the others return.''


    Coming out of his shadows, he sneaked his way towards the two Orcs with his movement skill activated.


    When he reached about three meters near the Orcs, hemenced the battle with a skill.


    "Dust st!"


    A mini storm picked up from the ground, surprising the two Orcs before they were hit by dust and rocks.


    The Orcs raised their weapons to their eyes to block the dust and prepared to counterattack as they had already seen him use the same tactics before in the vige.


    "Earth Spikes!"


    The two Orcs who were charging towards him by resisting the dust storm were met with sharp spikes that randomly emerged from the ground around them.


    They dodged the spike attacks, but simultaneously resisting the dust and dodging the spikes was not possible for them as they eventually got wounded.


    Blood sprayed out from several parts of their bodies which hurt more as the dust particles fell on their wounds.


    Felix jumped ahead as he took out his sword and engaged in closebat with the already injured Orcs.


    "ck Horizon Sword Arts: Assault Impact!"


    He heavily attacked one of the Orcs, sting it a few meters away and turned to the other Orc.


    A few red marks appeared all over therge Orc as Felix used another skill on it, and attacked all of its weak points without mercy.


    On one hand was the Orc who was tired and hurt from all the attacks, while on the other hand was Felix, who had just used Terra Drain and healed himself to his top health.


    The result of the battle was obvious as the Rank 2 Orc got stabbed in its chest and sumbed to death as Corrosive energy drilled into its body.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 100 skill points.]


    Felix pulled out his shortsword from the body of the dead Orc, which fell on the ground with a thud.


    "It''s your turn now."


    He turned around and pointet his sword at the remaining Orc who was staring daggers at him in hatred.


    The Orc held onto its wounds and gathered its strength, before raising its head and roaring into the sky with all its might.


    "KKRRAAHHHWW!!!"


    Felix mped his ears in irritation, the roar was truly loud as it buzzed his mind and senses.


    "Just shut up you damn Orc!", he shouted in annoyance.


    And instead of stopping, the Orc continued roaring again.


    This ticked off Felix who was about to use his skill on the Orc, but what happened next froze him on his spot.


    "GRAAWWHHH!"¡Á3


    From different directions, three roars echoed as if they were answering to the roaring Orc infront of Felix.


    The four Orcs roared aloud as the three from afar came running towards Felix while the other dozens of Orcs followed behind them.


    "Oh, so that''s why you were shouting, huh?"


    Felix nodded in understanding as he watched many Orcs surrounding him from all the directions with their enraged and crazy expressions.


    The wounded Orc had an evil smile on its face as it felt satisfied now that they had the human in the palm of their hands all ording to their n.


    But unlike what it had expected, the human infront of them suddenly grinned widely under their subjugation.


    "Now this is getting exciting....."

 Chapter 125: The Massacre.

    As Felix stood in the middle of a gang of bloodthirsty Orcs who were dying to rush at him, numerous ideas flew right through his head on how to deal with the situation.


    ''I could use Earth Swimming and go hiding again before sneaking attacks at them, but....''


    He nced at the growling monsters around him with narrowed eyes.


    All of them had their eyes fixed on him as they were afraid he would escape right under their nose again like he had done the previous times.


    ''.....I''m tired of always running away.''


    Before the Orcs could rush at him, Felix had made a decision and started his n.


    "Quicksand!"


    With him as the centre, the surroundingnd started to soften which irked the Orcs to take a step back.


    Altogether there were four Rank 2 Orcs and about fifty Rank 1 Orcs, who were all separated from Felix by the quicksand area.


    "What happened? You''re not going toe now?", mocked Felix with a smirk as he wiggled his finger at them.


    The Rank 2 Orcs gritted their teeth in agitation and roared furiously before leading the other Orcs into the quicksand.


    "Greeaahhh!!"


    Gripping his sword, Felix turned serious and eyed the monstersing towards him from all directions while struggling through the quicksand.


    "That''s more like it."


    He waited for them to approach him and continued using the skill ''Quicksand'' to disturb the Orc''s movement.


    When one of the Rank 2 Orcs had arrived a few meters away from him, Felix initiated the attack.


    "Agility Burst!"


    He kicked off from the small solid ground he was on and jumped towards his first target.


    The Orc was surprised when the human suddenly appeared onto him from a few meters away, but it responded quickly by raising its weapon to block any attacks.


    Sadly, its action was useless as instead of attacking, Felix used the Orc''s weapon as a stepping stone and jumped away towards a nearby Rank 1 Orc.


    Swinging his shortsword, Felix applied the inertia of his force and easily cleaved through the Orc to its chest.


    After killing one of the Orcs, hended on its body which was falling down and again jumped towards another Orc.


    Simrly, he continued killing the weaker Orcs one by one by asionally using ''Agility Burst'' or ''Earth Spikes'' to prevent himself from getting harmed and to divert their attention.


    "KRRWAHH!!"


    The Rank 2 Orcs screamed in agony for losing their kinfolk right in front of their eyes while they could only struggle their way around the area of quicksand.


    Watching him killing off plenty of Rank 1 Orcs, the ones farther away stopped their march in fear of losing their lives.


    After taking out only around twenty of the fifty Rank 1 Orcs, Felix stopped his rampage as the others seemed to avoid getting close to him.


    He turned to stare at the four Rank 2 Orcs who had gathered together and were forcing their lower bodies to move in the quicksand towards him.


    The corpses of the Rank 1 Orcsy all about the quicksand area, providing as stepping stones for movement to Felix.


    But the same couldn''t be said for the Orcs as they were too big to walk on the bodies of the dead Orcs so they could only push themselves in the semi-solid ground.


    "It''s time to end this."


    Felix skipped on the surrounding corpses and made his way towards them while sending them attacks.


    "Earth Spikes!"


    The Orcs were already used to seeing this same skill again and again kill their folks, so they easily blocked and destroyed the spikes attacking them.


    ''This is going to be tough...''


    Felix arrived beside them and attacked the rightmost Orc as he didn''t want to get surrounded by all four of them in close quarters.


    The Orc swung its weapon with all of its might to kill the human.


    "Dust st!"


    And instead of a sh of weapons, Felix used another of his skill on all four of them.


    With its lower body jammed in the quicksand, and its upper body upholding the full brunt of the mini dust storm, the rightmost Orc looked like a fat piece of meat to Felix....


    ...which he devoured without mercy.


    "ck Horizon Sword Arts: Singr sh!"


    A horizontal gleam of light spread across the neck of the Orc, before blood spurted out in a frenzy and its head slowly slid down from its neck to the quicksand below.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 100 skill points.]


    But Felix didn''t let go of this chance as he kicked away the falling head of the dead Orc, which flew over into the arms of another Orc standing furthest to it.


    The Orc grabbed the head out of instinct but seeing what it was made it lose its mind for a second.


    A second that Felix utilised for his own good.


    "Earth Spikes!"


    Sharp spikes came out from the ground and quickly pierced into the body of the surprised Orc who was still holding onto the head of its deadrade.


    Felix ignored it and jumped towards the nearest Orc from him.


    He shed at the Orc with his shortsword while he was still in the air but was met with a block as the Orc pushed him with its weapon.


    Felix didn''t find any corpses to step on in the area so hended on the ground which made his legs sink into the quicksand.


    "I wanted a fair fight but I guess this is it...", he muttered with a wry smile while letting out a tired breath.


    Instead of struggling in the quicksand like the Orcs, Felix rxed.


    ''Earth Swimming.''


    His body then sank easily into the ground, stupifying the Orcs who realised that the human was just ying around with them till now.


    And that he was going all out now.


    They stood cautiously with their legs deep into the quicksand and surveyed the area which had gotten ominously quiet.


    "GRAH!!"


    Suddenly, one of the Orcs screamed in pain as it lost its bnce and fell towards the ground.


    The other two Orcs turned towards it in a hurry and saw that one of its legs was separated from its body and was sinking into the quicksand.


    "KKEERGH!!


    The injured Orc moaned in agony as it tried to pull itself back onto its feet from the quicksand that was sinking its entire fallen body.


    The other two Orcs moved towards theirrade to help it, but they froze in their spots when suddenly a silver de emerged out from the chest of the injured Orc.


    "Qhiichk!"


    The de pulled itself back into the ground as the injured Orc lost the light in its eyes.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 100 skill points.]


    The remaining two Orcs took a step back in panic, as they could do nothing but watch the other Orcs get killed one by one.


    The death of so many of their tribemates and the fear of getting killed seemed to have made them go chaotic as they roared to the skies almost breaking their throats.


    But their cries didn''t get the sympathy of Felix as he surfaced on the ground with the eyes of a calm predator.


    "Earth Spikes!"


    The Orc who had caught the head of its deadrade got attacked by sharp spikes from all four directions.


    It tried to dodge and block them but its previous injuries prevented it from evading any of the spikes as it got pierced again.


    The Orc''s entire body got stabbed with the spikes until it could no longer move and stood there dead with the spikes supporting its corpse.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 100 skill points.]


    The only remaining Orc had tried to help the other Orc by attacking the spikesing at it, but it couldn''t block them from all four directions.


    So the Orc could only watch thest of its tribemates getting punctured by the sharp spikes before sumbing to death.


    "Its only you remaining now."


    Felix came out from the ground with half of his body still inside.


    He calmly moved towards the Orc who stood in its spot like a frozen statue.


    The Orc didn''t move a muscle and simply stared at the human who had massacred its entire group of Orcs.


    When Felix reached a few meters near the Orc, he stopped and looked at it in confusion.


    "You''ve....epted death?"


    He asked curiously as the Orc continued to nkly stare at him without any emotions.


    Felic rubbed his head awkwardly and muttered in a light tone.


    "I had no choice, okay? Skill points are essential for my survival, and this is a dog eat dog world so...."


    He suddenly stopped reasoning as he knew nothing could justify his actions of killing all of the Orcs, especially given that he would continue to do the same again and again, all for the sake of getting stronger.


    "There''s no point in thinking too much.", Felix shook his head as he grabbed his shortsword tightly with both of his hands.


    "But the least I can do is give you a quick death."


    He jumped off a corpse nearby using ''Agility Busrt'' and reached beside the still Orc, before shing his shortsword and giving it a clean slice on its neck and sending its nk-faced head flying.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 100 skill points.]

 Chapter 126: Rank 4 Giant.

    In the middle of a dense forest, the stench of blood drifted in the air.


    There could be seen a strange scene where the corpses of Orcs were floating around in a quicksand area.


    Amidst the corpses stood a young boy who was rubbing off the blood from his shortsword on the body of a dead Orc.


    "It seems you didn''t need my help in the end. Great job there."


    Felix raised his head to the top of a tree where Graham stood with an impressed look on his face.


    "Oh, Sir Graham...I was just lucky.", he said humbly.


    Graham stepped off the tree and dropped to the ground like a soft feather, as he replied.


    "I don''t think the word ''lucky'' suits your results. It''s more like you''re... a genius."


    Heplimented while staring at the boy with deep interest.


    "A dual profession of Swordman and an Earth Mage, I suppose. That''s pretty amazing for someone as young as you."


    Graham didn''t hold back his praises, almost as if he wanted to win over the boy to his side from a certain someone.


    Felix moved his eyes around the ce before quicklying out from the quicksand area and nodding at him.


    "You''re right, I had a bit of talent in both of the professions, so I thought it would be better to learn them both."


    Graham folded his hands as he advised seriously.


    "Hmm, there aren''t many disadvantages of pursuing two professions, but if you can''t effectivelybine your strengths as both a mage and a warrior in battles, then pursuing both might end up just being a waste of time."


    As Felix only created skills and didn''t waste any of his time learning anything of the two professions, this didn''t apply to him.


    But he still nodded as if he realized the gravity of his words.


    "I''ll be sure to remember your advice, Sir Graham."


    Felix then gave an impatient look as he pointed his thumb towards the deeper part of the forest.


    "So to make me a better mage and a warrior, why don''t we go out there and look for more monsters to hunt?"


    His words made Graham raise his brows as he silently nodded, knowing both of them had simr quirks.


    "Just what I wanted. Come on, let''s not waste our time with these weaklings. I''ll show you some really strong monsters.", he smiled and grabbed Felix''s cor.


    And then kicked off the ground to jump into the sky, making their way deeper into the forest as the sun slowly settled down on the horizon.


    *****


    After twenty minutes, Felix and Graham stood face to face with a 10-meter-tall giant monster.


    The pressureing off from the brown-coloured giant was so suffocating that Felix had to stand behind Graham to even look at it.


    His instincts were crazily buzzing off in his mind to just turn around and make a run for it, but his blood boiled in anticipation of their sh.


    ''System, tell me that monster''s name and rank!''


    [Affirmative, the monster in front of the host is called a Forest Giant, and it is at Rank 4.]


    Felix widened his eyes in excitement as the Forest Giant and Graham stared at each other, waiting for the other to make a move.


    Like how Felix was scared by the Rank 4 Forest Giant, it simrly was terrified by the presence of the one-eyed human standing in front of it.


    "Felix, this battle will be dangerous for you to be around, so stay behind some trees and wait for me there.", Graham ordered the boy who was waiting for the show to start with stars in his eyes.


    "Uh, okay. Good luck then.", Felix gave him a thumbs up and quickly stepped away from the battlefield.


    The area turned silent as a few leaves dropped down on the ground from the tall trees, with the tension rising in the air as both of them had a standoff.


    Seeing that Felix had retreated to a safe area,  Graham started walking forward and magically made a pair of metallic gloves appear on his hands.


    He punched his fists as the gloves made a metallic sound, giving him an intense feeling of an adrenaline rush to start the battle.


    "Why don''t we begin?", Graham smiled at the Forest Giant with his one eye gleaming dangerously.


    "GROAARR!!"


    The Forest Giant hammered its chest as it let out a loud roar epting the challenge that echoed throughout the ce.


    It stomped heavily on the ground with its enormous feet and rushed towards its opponent while raising its arms.


    Graham jumped up and faced the Giant head-on as he flew over to punch at its face.


    The Giant raised itsrge palms to block the attack, but then arge amount of light started gathering on Graham''s hands, which made it go blind for a second.


    ''What the hell is that?!'', Felix wondered from the side of the battlefield.


    Unable to see anything, the Giant waved around its arms randomly in the air to hit its opponent.


    But its fists didn''t connect with anything before it felt somethingnd on its head.


    Grahamnded on the Giant''s head and pulled his fist back before thrusting a powerful punch downwards.


    Boom!


    The punchnded on the Giant''s skull, shaking its mind as blood leaked out from all of the orifices on its head.


    The Giant persisted from the heavy blow and pped away the human from its head.


    Graham didn''t receive any harm as hended on the ground softly and rushed back again towards the Giant with his fists glowing in the light.


    The Giant was prepared this time to protect its eyes from any tricks as it took a defensive stance and waited for the second sh.


    Graham jumped up again towards the Giant''s chest as he conjured an enormous fist-shaped attack on his right hand that glowed in zing blueish-white light fiercely.


    The Giant narrowed its eyes at the attack but didn''t shy away as it met the punch with itsrge fist.


    "GROAHH!!"


    It screamed at the top of its lungs and flung its fist savagely, hitting Graham''s projection of his punch as their sh made dangerous sparks of electricity and aura.


    BANGG!!


    The air in the atmosphere shattered when their punches met as Felix, who was hiding in a corner behind a tree, blocked his vision as his hair blew back due to the fierce wind.


    The tall trees at the ce of their battle got rooted out from the earth due to the intense effects of the sh, the soil sted off and the ground lost all of its vitality.


    "D..Damn! They''re destroying the forest...", muttered Felix in amazement and disbelief.


    After a few seconds, he could finally see the result of their sh as the dust settled down, showing the twobatants who had both taken some steps back.


    While there weren''t any injuries or harm inflicted on Sir Graham, except for some dirt on his body, the same couldn''t be said the same for the Giant.


    It had basically lost the arm used for the punch and was swaying on its feet unable to stand properly with many wounds on its body.


    Graham stepped forward towards the Giant who wasn''t in a condition to move around.


    He kept walking until he arrived beside the Giant, with his head reaching its ankles.


    The Giant was aware of the proximity of the human but it couldn''t do anything as it felt exhausted and drained out.


    Gritting its teeth, the Forest Giant balled up its fist before sending it down.


    But Graham easily dodged it and jumped up from the ground,nding on the Giant''s shoulder.


    He rapidly gathered a burst of lightning in his hands and forced it into the shape of a ball before punching the Giant''s head while holding it.


    KRIICKK!


    A terrible energy of lightning shocked the Giant''s head as it sted apart in pieces withrge amounts of smokeing out from it.


    The headless corpse of the burned Forest Giant remained standing for a few seconds, and then it fell down with a thud as Grahamnded away on the ground safely.


    Felix who had spectated the entire battle stood there with his mouth wide open.


    He was dumbfounded by how easily Sir Graham had defeated an opponent who was at the same Rank 4 as him.


    ''....he isn''t called one of the strongest of the Underworld for nothing.'', Felix thought while still being stunned.


    There stood Sir Graham without any notable injuries on him, just basking in the sunlight of the setting sun as he stared at the corpse of the dead Giant.


    Felix approached the man from behind but when he got close, Graham suddenly turned around with his fist glowing in fierce light.


    "W-What..!", the boy shouted in panic while quickly raising his arms to block his head from the punch.


    As he felt the wind on his skin from the iing attack, Felix knew he was going die right now.


    There were a lot of questions going in his mind at the moment but the most intense was: why is Sir Graham killing me?

 Chapter 127: Request.

    "Oh, it''s just you Felix!"


    The punch came to a stop just a few centimetres away from Felix''s forehead.


    Graham, who had his one eye widened in agitation calmed down as he pulled his hand away, but the boy on the other hand was sweating buckets as he closed his eyes in terror.


    After hearing Sir Graham''s voice that didn''t contain any killing intent, he opened his trembling eyes and dropped down to the ground while taking deep breaths.


    "Haaa....Haaaa..."


    Felix felt his muscles loosen up from the sudden shock he felt when the fist had almost hit him.


    He looked up, scared and confused as he was a few moments away from death just now.


    "W-Why did you d-do that!?", he shouted with an exhausted face.


    Sir Graham had a guilty face as he rubbed his temples in frustration.


    "This...I didn''t mean to do it. It was a mistake."


    "M-Mistake? But I could''ve died there you know!!", Felix replied angrily.


    Graham sighed as he looked straight into the boy''s eyes and bowed his head a little with a genuine feeling.


    "I''m sorry, Felix. I''ve always been hunting alone until now, so I''m alert and have my guard up whenever I''m hunting."


    "Having someone apany me is new, and with my injured eye affecting my vision, I couldn''t clearly see your approach from the side."


    Seeing the man sincerely apologising to him, Felix felt taken aback that such a strong person was bowing his head to him.


    He quickly got up and held Sir Graham back from doing that as he replied.


    "Umm I understand now, Sir Graham. You don''t have to bow to me. It was also kind of my fault to have approached you when you had just finished an intense battle."


    Felix forgave him and didn''t hold a grudge anymore but he was still a bit frustrated.


    "But I hope you won''t put me in any dangerous position again. The only reason I''vee this deep inside the forest is because I trust you to keep me safe, so if you kill me by mistake then it wouldn''t make any sense.", he joked a bit to ease the situation.


    Graham patted the boy''s shoulder and promised with a wry smile.


    "Alright, I''ll guarantee your safety."


    He felt guilty of bringing the boy and putting him in danger, so he thought of an idea.


    "How about this? On behalf of my mistake of almost killing you, why don''t you ask me for any request that I''ll do for you under normal limits?"


    Felix pondered about his idea and nodded with a satisfied grin as he asked him for the first thing that came up in his mind.


    "If that''s so, then can you help me kill a Rank 4 monster?"


    His words almost choked Sir Graham who coughed speechlessly.


    "Y-You...What happened to not putting you in dangerous situations?"


    Felix just rubbed his head awkwardly but waited for his reply with anticipation written on his face.


    "Sigh...Felix, I don''t think you''re ready to face the might of a Rank 4 being. Remember you''re only at the Rank 1 now, and it''s nigh impossible for you to defeat a Rank 4 even with my help because they''re not any random monsters anymore."


    Sir Graham warned as he turned serious.


    "After advancing to the Rank 4, which is the starting of the Transcendent Realm, every being will have the same intelligence as that of a human and they''ll have a stronger desire to survivepared to the weaker monsters. So there''s a lot of danger if youe near even a Rank 4 monster that''s nearing its death."


    Seeing that his request was rejected, Felix pondered about it as he remembered the strength of the Rank 4 Forest Giant.


    It was true that he wouldn''t be able to move in its presence even with his skill Equanimity, which showed that he was not yet ready to defeat a Rank 4 being, but that only lowered his target.


    "If not a Rank 4, then a Rank 3 monster is fine. I just want to see what my limits are and how strong the monsters at that higher Ranks are."


    He showed a determined face and lied without any change on his face when he just wanted the skill points from killing a Rank 3 being.


    It didn''t matter whether the one who fought was him or Sir Graham, because the only thing in this world that could make him powerful were skill points.


    "Hmm, that''s not impossible. We''ll have to look for a lone Rank 3 monster then, for it to be safe for you."


    Gramam agreed to it and pointed towards a different direction as he started walking away.


    "Let''s go there. I''ve got a hunch we''ll find what we''re looking for in that direction."


    Felix chased behind him with an excited face to find a suitable monster for him to kill.


    *****


    As the sun disappeared, the three moons peeked through the clouds, casting a serene light over the forest.


    After searching throughout the forest for the lone monster that they were looking for, Felix and Graham were now hiding behind a tree while peeking at it in the dark.


    "That''s a Rank 3 Ogre, they''rerger in sizepared to Orcs but less intelligent. They''re strong but slow, use no fatal weapons except for clubs and thus, should be a good opponent for you."


    Graham exined while pointing at the monster which stood 4 meters tall with dark brown warty skin on its bulging muscr body.


    Felix eyed the Ogre as he ced his hand over his shortsword, ready to battle it, and took a few steps forward.


    "Wait- where are you going? You can''t handle that monster alone!", Graham held the boy back before he could rush onwards.


    "Huh? Aren''t you going to help me?", Felix asked in doubt as it seemed a bit different from what he had in mind.


    Graham pped his forehead and replied matter-of-factly.


    "Of course I am, but you need to have a n before engaging it in battle. Don''t forget that monster is two ranks higher than you, and even if you could defeat Rank 2 monsters easily, it doesn''t mean the same with Rank 3 monsters."


    Felix frowned as he asked while looking at the Ogre.


    "Alright then, what''s the n?"


    Graham twitched his lips but refrained from scolding the battle maniac who reminded him of himself when he was younger.


    "The n huh, let''s do it this way then. I''ll attack the Ogre with my long-ranged attacks from different directions, while you''ll try to attack it from its blindspots at close range."


    Felix thought over the n and nodded as he agreed.


    "That''s fine, here I go then!"


    He activated his Silent Steps skill and rushed to his right side, giving way for the man to use his attacks.


    Graham saw the boy go and waved his hands, summoning a dozen small orbs of lightning which he threw towards the Ogre.


    "Lightning Spheres!"


    In the dark forest, the orbs of lightning radiated light and sparks as they flew from the distance at a shocking speed and hit the unsuspecting Ogre on its back.


    "WRAAHH!!"


    The Ogre felt electricity run throughout its body as it groaned around in pain and numbness.


    But that was not all as a boy with silver hair suddenly appeared on its side with a wide smile on his face.


    KSCCHH!


    Felix shed his shortsword at the Ogre''s torso, inflicting a wound that didn''t stab deeper because of its hard skin.


    ''Shit! My sword is not strong enough to cut into it...''


    He quickly used an Agility Burst and retreated backwards, dodging an iing attack from the angry Ogre.


    Boom!


    The earth caved in where the Ogre hit it with its club, sending rocks and sand which sted over and grazed Felix who was just a few meters away.


    "Ughh!", he blocked his head from the debris but he got a few scratches on his body as his robe got torn here and there.


    "Felix! Duck!"


    Graham shouted from behind as he sent another of his attacks.


    "Huh, where?", muttered Felix in confusion before he felt a bright lighting from the corner of his eyes.


    He quickly bent down on the ground as a spear of lightning whizzed past his hair, buzzing off his ears, and pierced into the Ogre''s chest.


    "Holy sh*t!"


    The Ogre took a few steps back as it grunted in pain, a small hole visible on its chest with blood leaking down onto the ground.


    "Chance!"


    Felix had his eyes lit up as he used one of his skills to attack the Ogre.


    "Earth Spikes!"


    The injured Ogre stood still to recover from the wound when the earth around it fluctuated as a few sharp spikes sprang up and struck its lower body.


    The Ogre''s eyes turned red in craziness as it swung its club and destroyed all the earth spikes as blood spurted out from all of its wounds.


    It stared at the small human who had attacked it in wrath and jumped ahead while raising its club to crush it''s enemy.


    "WRAHH!!"


    Felix watched the Ogre arrive before him as his legs slowly sunk into the ground to hide from it, but his skill seemed to work a bit slow.


    "Dust st!"


    He used another skill and sent a mini storm of debris towards the Ogre.


    Sadly, it didn''t have any effect on the frenzied monster who ignored the small rocks attacking it and brought down the club on Felix.


    Just when the heavy club was about to make contact with boy''s head, a voice shouted from afar.


    "Lightning Spheres!"


    In a sh, small orbs of electricity travelled at the speed of sound and attacked the front of the Ogre who had its guard down against any attacks.


    Felix who was half sunken into the ground decided to not waste the opportunity as he quickly glided over from between the Ogre''s legs.


    He reached behind the Ogre and jumped meters above before grabbing his shortsword with both of his hands and stabbing into the Ogre''srge neck.


    KRRIKK!


    The Ogre felt a sharp pain as a weapon pierced its spinal cord and it moved its arm to grab the hateful boy.


    "Corrosion!!"


    But it suddenly stopped moving as a terrible baleful energy spread through its body starting from its neck.


    "KREWAHH!!"


    The Ogre found it hard to breath as the cursed energy was concentrated near its head, harming its insides while it could only twitch in pain.


    Felix swayed on the Ogre''s back as it danced in terrible pain and waved its arms around to hit him.


    He tightened his hold on his shortsword and raised his legs towards the Ogre''s neck, before sitting on its broad shoulders.


    Titghtly locking his legs on its neck, Felix increased the intensity of his Corrosion skill as he felt a terrible headache suddenly hitting him.


    "Aaghhhh!!..."


    Graham was dumbfounded as he stared in shock at the spectacle.


    It reminded him of the first battle he had witnessed of the boy with the drugged goon of the dark guilds.


    "This kid sure is clingy to his enemy..."


    After a few seconds of struggle with the crazy Ogre, Felix felt tired as all of the energy from his body got sucked away.


    But he didn''t stop even when blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.


    "GYAHHH!!"


    Finally, the Ogre seemed to have given up as it gave a loud groan with a twisted face before it fell down on its knees.


    The light in the Ogre''s eyes vanished as its body copsed down onto the ground along with the exhausted Felix.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 1000 skill points.]

 Chapter 128: The Unclear Story.

    Graham walked over from the side and looked at the result of the boy''s battle.


    The Ogre had its head deformed and turned purple as it bled from many of its orifices.


    While Felix, who was on the ground beside the Ogre''s head, seemed to have gone unconscious with some small wounds on his body.


    "He really killed a Rank 3 being at Rank 1...", Graham shook his head in amusement, as although he had helped the boy, it was an almost impossible aplishment for someone as young as him.


    "I wonder how strong you''ll grow in theing future."


    He muttered while gently picking up the boy on his shoulder and using a simple technique of transferring small electric waves to rx the boy''s sore muscles.


    Graham then walked away from the ce, searching for a spot for them to spend the night and have a campfire dinner.


    *****


    Felix twitched and opened his exhausted eyes when an aromatic smell tickled his nose.


    He looked around in confusion, finding himself lying inside a tent, with a bonfire a few meters away, keeping him warm from the chilly night.


    A man wearing a one-eyed patch was grilling a few pieces of meat on a strange tool with the use of a bonfire in front of him.


    "I didn''t expect you could cook, Sir Graham."


    Felix walked out from the tent as he stretched and walked over to the man.


    Graham looked up from the grill and replied wisely while adding some spices to the meat.


    "Man always learns how to survive when he is not infort."


    He smiled and gave Felix a te with the cooked meat and some veggies.


    "Eat up. We can''t have you getting tired on the first day of hunting."


    Felix sat down on the sitting made from a broken tree''s trunk and feasted on the meal without wasting any time.


    He had not eaten anything for the whole day except for breakfast, and from all the fighting and killing, he was starving to death.


    The meal didn''t satisfy his stomach, so he asked for more, to which Graham happily gave him more meat and vegetables as if he had an unlimited supply.


    After what seemed like more than ten servings, he stopped and patted his full stomach in bliss.


    "Fighting and eating are the only things that can never bore people like us huh...", Graham muttered as he too gobbled dozens of meat pieces and food.


    As they sat under the moonlight in silence in the dark forest that was devoid of any light except for the bonfire, Felix thought of something as he asked.


    "Umm Sir Graham, may I ask you the reason why you''re always hunting for strong monsters in the forest?"


    He thought it was a bit unnatural for Sir Graham to always be moving around in the lonely forests and fighting when he could live afortable life anywhere with his strength.


    On the other hand, Felix himself had a perfect reason to do so because only by killing strong beings would he get the skill points to grow stronger.


    "Hmm, that''s a troublesome question....", Graham muttered as a bottle with strange coloured liquid appeared in his hands.


    He closed his eyes and took a sip directly from the bottle, opening his eyes again in satisfaction.


    "Hhaa...to answer your question, we''ll have to look into my past. Do you want to hear about it?"


    Felix sat straight as his eyes revealed curiosity.


    "Yes, I''m willing to hear it."


    Graham took another sip from the bottle as he started.


    "I''ll keep it brief. When I was younger, I had a dream of travelling around the world. Walking over the entire continent and even crossing the seas to the other parts of the world."


    "After a lot of struggle, I created my own mercenarypany and travelled the Trevol Continent with them. Making friends and foes everywhere,....and eventually found my soulmate."


    Graham kept the bottle down as he deeply stared at the crackling twigs in the bonfire.


    "We loved each other. So we got married, but there was a problem...she was an Elf."


    He went quiet, finding himself lost in his memories.


    Meanwhile, Felix was both amazed and confused in his head.


    ''He married an Elf! That''s a fantasy race of beautiful creatures.....So what exactly was the problem?''


    Although he didn''t understand what the actual problem was, Felix didn''t outright raise his question, cautious that he may sound out of ce as he didn''t yet know many things regarding this world.


    "What happened then?", he asked in hopes of continuing the story.


    Graham raised his bottle to take another big sip before narrating the next part.


    "As Elves and other races were banned from living in this continent, my wife and her nomad group of elves who were travellers at that time were jailed for some months and sent to some other continent."


    "I fought back when she was being detained and taken away, but I was too weak and couldn''t protect my wife from the higher authorities."


    Graham made an ugly face as he clenched his fists and broke the bottle in his hand, but his skin was too tough for it to be bleed.


    "I was thenbelled as a criminal for a small offence, and I still don''t know which continent they sent my wife to. From then onwards, the only thing in my mind is to grow stronger and stronger, until I''ve reached the point when I can take revenge on those bastards."


    Felix now understood the reality of the situation as to where the problemy.


    He didn''t know that this continent banned people of other races, so now he came to know why he hadn''t met one yet.


    "Did you never go to find your wife? Even though you didn''t know where she was...", Felix asked weirdly as Sir Graham didn''t seem like a person who would give up on someone he liked.


    At his question, Graham had a sad smile as he forced his reply.


    "That.....I couldn''t."


    "But why?", Felix didn''t like the answer.


    Graham looked at Felix in the eyes as he responded with a lost expression.


    "Because herst words to me were.....Forget about me, and live your life."


    He turned his head to the dark sky littered with stars, and sighed.


    "See? Women are strange, right? I was sure that she loved me, but I wonder why she said that."


    Felix, on his opposite side, made a thoughtful expression, trying to understand why she would say something like that.


    But his interaction with women was almost nill, so there was no hope for him to find an answer.


    Silence took over the ce, as both men sat under the moonlight, trying toprehend the mysteries of the opposite gender.


    After some time, Graham waved his hand and vanished all the cooking tools and spices around him as he stood up.


    "Why don''t we go to sleep? There''s a lot of work we gotta do tomorrow."


    Felix too stood up as he patted the dust off his butt and walked towards his tent while waving.


    "Alright, good night then, Sir Graham. I''ll be needing your help for hunting more monsters tomorrow."


    Graham shook his head with a smile, enjoying thepany of another person in his little adventure.


    ''Whatever your reasons may be, I''ll help you when ites to hunting...''


    He decreased the light of the bonfire and walked toward another tent he had erected.


    Both of them then fell asleep, with their stomach full and their mind still wondering.


    *****


    A few dayster.


    In a wide and lush grasnd where one could see distant mountains and a running river below the clear sunny sky.


    There could be seen arge group of enraged red colored Bulls towering 3 meters high in average, chasing behind two men who were busy arguing with each other.


    "Felix! I told you not to attack their leader! Why the hell did you still do it?", Graham shouted as his one eye twiched.


    Felix, who was falling behind a few steps and could only keep up using his Agility Bust skill, replied with regret.


    "I''m sorry, Sir Graham. My body just moved on its own before I could even realise."


    Hepleted the sentence quickly as he  ran with all his might so that the hoard of hundreds and hundreds of Bulls chasing after them wouldn''t stomp him to death.


    The hoard had more than a hundred Rank 2 Bulls, with dozens at Rank 3 and three Rank 4 Bulls.


    Graham, who was slowing himself to keep running alongside Felix, turned to look at the crowd behind them and smirked.


    "Felix, you wanted to hunt a lot monsters, right? ", he asked while slowly levitating above the ground.


    "Huh? Isn''t that obvious. But why are you suddenly asking that now?", Felix let out tired breaths and questioned with a strange face.


    Graham grinned as he patted Felix''s shoulder and started flying into the sky.


    "Because I''m giving you the great opportunity to face them all!"


    His voice moved away as Felix looked up in disbelief, watching the man bing smaller and smaller.


    "W-Wait- you traitor! DON''T GOOO!!"

 Chapter 129: End of the Hunt.

    Left all alone with the hundreds of Crimson Bulls chasing him as he ran away from them, Felix cursed Sir Graham under his breath.


    "Shit! How the hell could he leave me and go...."


    He took a peek behind him while boosting his speed with Agility Bursts, and saw the raging bulls getting closer and closer to him.


    ''I can''t fight them anymore, so the only option left is escaping...''


    Felix sighed, feeling pity that he wouldn''t be able to gain the skill points from the horde of bull monsters.


    ''Earth Swimming!''


    He used his skill as he ran, gliding on the earth as his body slowly submerged into the ground.


    The Bulls caught up to him when his speed decreased while sinking, so he had to use other skills to keep them away.


    "Dust st!"


    "Quicksand!"


    A mini storm of rocks hit the rushing Bulls, slowing them a bit down and the ground beneath them softened, hindering their march.


    Felix used the chance andpletely sunk into the earth, his disappearance confusing the Bulls who gathered around to search for him.


    However, he didn''t waste any time and swam away from there towards the direction he was previously running to.


    The more than hundreds of bulls were the only prominent monsters in these grasnds, so they had everynd under their control.


    As such, Felix couldn''t surface anywhere near and had to continue swimming away, while poking his head out of the ground to take deep breaths once every few minutes.


    A few momentster, when he left the grasnds and entered back into the forest, he came out of the ground and rxed his body.


    "Oh, you''re back? That was pretty quick. I knew my lessons would raise your hopes in surviving in the wilderness."


    Sir Graham jumped down from a tree and nodded with a satisfied face.


    Felix twitched his lips and spat on the ground, pointing his finger at the man angrily.


    "Your lessons? You just left me there to die, you traitor!! No wonder your wife left you!"


    Graham grunted and took a step back in pain as he was hurt by what the boy said.


    "Ughh Felix, you misunderstood my intentions. I was just helping you gain an important skill necessary for survival...."


    "Huh? What kind of important skill are you talking about?", Felix asked in doubt.


    Graham coughed and put his hands behind his back, acting like a wise sage.


    "I''m talking about ''The Art of Running Away''."


    Felix widened his eyes in absurdity and gave up hoping to learn anything useful from this strong yet weird man.


    The two men then walked away, bickering amongst themselves while nning to return to Edenmomt City.


    *****


    A few hourster.


    The duo reached the gates of Edenmont City as Graham carried the boy by his cor andnded on the ground a few meters away.


    ''I had a great haul from this adventure.'', Felix thought happily as he walked towards the gate.


    In the five days he had explored the forest with Sir Graham, he had killed a total of 28 Rank 2 monsters, in addition to the Rank 3 Ogre.


    He had asked the man to help him defeat a few more Rank 3 beings, but the man didn''tply, saying more help would not make him stronger and instead make him more arrogant.


    There was nothing he could do after that, so his targets were only Rank 2 monsters while exchanging some moves with a few Rank 3 beings before running away in defeat.


    ''System, how many skill points do I have now?''


    Felix asked as he entered the gates alongside Sir Graham.


    [Ding!]


    [Skill Points: 4430.]


    A wide smile emerged on his face when he saw the huge number of skill points in his possession.


    ''With this, I''ll be finally able to create some good skills that I''ve been hoping for....''


    As his mood turned joyous, the man next to him noticed and asked curiously.


    "Hmm? What got you so happy?"


    Felix turned to the man next to him, knowing he was the reason he could obtain so many skill points this easily without putting himself in any danger.


    "Sir Graham, thank you for bringing me along to the forest. I''ve learned a lot from you and don''t know how to repay you for your kindness, so this is the most I can do."


    Felix muttered genuinely and bowed to him when they had arrived in an empty alley.


    Graham raised his brows in surprise, not expecting such a show of gratitude from him. But then he smiled and nodded, and his eyes lit up as he pulled Felix straight.


    "Haha you don''t have to thank me for anything, I helped you because I wanted something from you all along."


    Graham grinned in anticipation and pointed his thumb on his chest.


    "Why don''t you leave that Dealer guy and follow me instead, Felix? We can keep on exploring around the forests and grow stronger together!"


    This was the sole reason he had brought Felix along with him to the forests, showing him the amazing life of hunting and living in the wilderness.


    Not everyone had a liking to such a life, which was full of unstoppable battles with monsters for survival and living in the absence of humanfort.


    That was why he was interested in recruiting the boy who shared simr hobbies as him to his faction in the Underworld.


    Felix widened his eyes in shock when he heard the man''s proposal, but then shook his head after a moment of consideration.


    "I''m sorry, Sir Graham. I think you have a misunderstanding regarding my affiliation with Mr.Dealer. We''re not in a boss and subordinate rtionship, instead, we had a deal in which I had to work for him as his employed fighter for a few days."


    Graham tilted his head as he spoke and grew excited.


    "I knew that guy was a liar, but I didn''t expect him to fool me too. Wait, doesn''t that mean you can join my faction without any issues then?"


    Felix rubbed his head in confusion and replied unsurely.


    "Umm, I''ve never thought about joining any faction in the Underworld before, so this is a bit sudden. Also, with the guild warsing up within two days, I don''t think I''m ready for something else..."


    Graham folded his hands and thought for some time before responding with a sigh.


    "Fine then, I won''t force you right now. You can think about it after the guild wars. My ce is always open for you if you decide toe."


    Grinning at the boy, he looked around and asked.


    "I guess it''s time I return to the Underworld, there''s some work do to. What about you?"


    Felix nced at the shortsword at his waist deeply and pondered before asking the man.


    "Sir Graham, is there a nice ce I can buy a better sword than this one?"


    The man looked between the sword and the boy and replied after pondering.


    "Hmm, I know of a reputable shop for that. But I think you''ve grown fond of that shortsword, so why not take it to a cksmith and upgrade it into a higher-grade weapon."


    Felix was surprised by that and nodded as he felt excited about the idea.


    "Right! I can do that! By the way, do you happen to know any good cksmith who could upgrade my sword?"


    Sir Graham nodded and smiled as he gestured the boy to follow him as he made his way onwards to the Underworld.


    "I got the perfect man for the job."


    The two of them disappeared from the streets, entering the secret pathways and finding themselves back in the Underworld.


    In the bustling ck Market, which remained crowded and chaotic regardless of the outside time.


    Felix followed behind Graham, with his ck mask now covering his face, and reached a corner where a simple looking store resided.


    There was a constant sound of metallic ngsing from inside the shop, indicating that someone was working inside without a stop.


    "It''s here."


    Sir Graham pointed at the shop and pushed open the door, stepping inside along with Felix.


    The moment he entered inside, the nging sound stopped and a surprised gruff voice called out.


    "Hmm, Phantom?"

 Chapter 130: Blacksmith.

    Standing at the door of the shop, Felix looked inside and turned towards a person who had called out to him.


    "Hmm? Wait- you are..."


    There was a smell of hot metal and burning coal present in the air; and within the dimly lit shop, a robust man wearing loose clothes held a hammer in his hand with a metal glowing red on his anvil.


    Felix looked deeply at the man, whose figure and voice reminded him of someone and muttered unsurely.


    "....Berd?"


    The man touched his face, remembering he didn''t have his mask and gave a wry smile as he nodded.


    "Umm, yeah, Phantom. It''s me."


    The two of them then turned quiet, not knowing what to say.


    Sir Graham nced between them strangely and pped his hands to break the awareness.


    "Well, it''s great that you two know each other, saves my time. Phantom, you can get your work done here with his help, so I''ll take my leave. Also, my ce is always open for you."


    He grinned and left the shop, not interfering between the two of them.


    The men then looked at each other before Felix inquired.


    "I didn''t expect you to be a cksmith, Berd. Is this your shop?"


    Berd waved his hand in denial and replied quickly.


    "No, I''m just a cksmith apprentice here. The owner is inside. Do you want me to call him for you?"


    "Yeah, I''ll appreciate that.", Felix nodded.


    Berd kept his hammer aside and entered a different room, leaving Felix alone as he nced around at the shop.


    From the entrance where he stood, there were swords and various kinds of weapons ced on all four sides of the shop.


    On the left corner, there was a counter, and on the right corner, there were a few anvils where Berd was previously working on some metal.


    A few secondster, Berd walked out with a stout man with bulging muscles following behind.


    "Sir, this is Phantom. And Phantom, this is my master, Sir Reegan."


    The man showed no expression and walked behind the counter before taking his seat as he gestured with his hand.


    "Well, Phantom is it? What can I do for you?", he asked professionally, with a kind of attitude that didn''t suit someone from the ck market.


    Felix acted calmly and ced his shortsword on the counter, telling his request.


    "Is it possible for you to upgrade my shortsword to a higher grade? Its power is too weak in my recent battles, and I don''t want to buy a new weapon."


    Reagan held the shortsword and inspected it with his deep eyes before nodding as he replied.


    "Hmm, this is a High Umon weapon. I can work on this one, but the highest grade I can upgrade it to is Low Rare Grade weapon."


    Felix''s eyes lit up in joy, knowing his shortsword could be upgraded, and he rapidly asked.


    "How long will it be for you to upgrade it? Also, what''s the cost? Can you upgrade it to a higher grade? Like Epic Grade?"


    Felix had seen an Epic grade weapon before, which were the gloves Sir Graham had used while fighting Rank 4 monsters.


    Reegan blinked at the boy''s questions and answered calmly without any change in his professional attitude as he ced the sword back on the counter.


    "The time can vary depending on the price paid, but the average time will be four days. And the cost for upgrading this shortsword will be 80k tahl. As for upgrading it to a higher grade? It''ll require extraordinary materials, which I currently do not have and are very difficult to find."


    Felix contemted what the man said and shook his head as he requested again.


    "Low Rare grade is fine for now, but I can''t wait for four more days. Can I get it done by tomorrow?"


    Reegan held his chin and thought for some time before nodding as he stated.


    "That''s possible, but as I have many customers who want me to quickly work on their weapons, the cost of delivering your weapon tomorrow can reach 140k. Is that okay with you?"


    Felix hissed at the rise of the price, but there was no way he could wait for four days as the guild wars were only two dayster.


    ''What should I do?''


    While thinking about his options, he remembered the Exclusive card given by Mr.Dealer and took it out in hopes.


    "How about now?", he ced the card on the counter.


    "This...."


    The man widened his eyes in surprise and nodded in understanding as he nced at his apprentice on the side.


    "Hmm, with the Exclusive card of the Underworld, you can get a forty percent discount. So the new price will be 84k for delivering your upgraded shortsword tomorrow. Is that fine?"


    Felix nodded and smiled, pushing forward his weapon towards the man.


    "Please take care of my shortsword then."


    Reegan nodded and took the weapon, handing it to Berd as he took out a note.


    "Well then, what kind of upgrade would you like to have in your weapon?", he asked politely.


    Felix had his eyes lit up as he didn''t think he could even request such things.


    Then, without wasting any time, he started mentioning his requests and thoughts on the way he wanted his weapon to be upgraded.


    Sometimeter, Felix walked out of the shop with a happy smile, with Berd a step away as they conversed.


    "That Reegan person is your master? He seems like a professional unlike any other shopkeepers around here."


    "Yes, he is a professional. I''ve learned a lot from him.", Berd replied with respect for his master.


    They stopped outside the door, with Berd still in his reserved attitude that Felix thought was from the influence of his master.


    "I''ve got some work to do now, so I''ll be leaving. Take care, Berd.", he waved and left.


    Berd waved back and returned to the shop, his mood turningplicated as he knew he was going to face some trouble.


    *****


    Felix arrived back at the Twilight Chaos building after some time.


    He entered inside and saw Miss Elsa tending to her work at the reception desk and wondered what to tell her about his disappearance for a few days.


    As he walked past her desk, hoping to go unnoticed, she suddenly jumped up from her seat and grabbed his shoulder in a sh.


    "Don''t you have something to say to me?", she asked while staring at him with a gentle smile.


    Felix started sweating from the look in her eyes and quickly blurted out the reason he had cooked up.


    "I...I was busy with shopping, yeah. I wanted to buy a new weapon and...umm also new clothes."


    Elsa shook her head and gave a slight twist to Felix''s ear, scoffing at him.


    "You''re still lying to me? I already knew that you were out hunting monsters, but what I''m asking is something else."


    Her eyes sparkled as she patted him and smiled seductively.


    "You didn''t tell me you had advanced to the first rank. I wouldn''t have known about it if Steve didn''t slip his tongue. Congrattions, Felix! Now you can participate in the war and also go out of the city without any trouble."


    Felix widened his eyes in realisation and nodded as he sighed.


    "Ah thanks Miss Elsa, I just didn''t get the chance to tell you. I went to hunt some monsters after advancing to check out my new strength."


    Elsa smirked and folded her hands, giving him a sly look.


    "See? Now you''re telling the truth. Don''t think you can fool me. There won''t be a next time. I''ll punish you if you lie to me again."


    Felix nodded quickly, not angering thisdy whom Steve and the others had shown a terrified expression when mentioning her ''punishment''.


    The two of them conversed for a while, with Elsa giving him some instructions and pointers with further cultivation now that he was at Rank 1.


    Felix wholeheartedly listened to her, as what Sir Graham had taught him these five days waspletely iprehensible.


    After a brief discussion, he took his leave as she had work to do and went to his room.


    Entering inside, he first took a long and warm bath beforeing out and wearing some cozy clothes.


    Jumping on the bed in tiredness of the hunting journey, Felix nced at the ceiling and turned serious.


    ''Now that I''m all alone, It''s time to create some new skills.....''

 Chapter 131: Map and History.

    Felix continued toy on the bed for some time, pondering about the new skills that he should create now that he had obtained more than four thousand skill points.


    Finally, he sat up and called out to the system decisively after consideration.


    "System, create this skill."


    [Affirmative.]


    [Processing the skill power scale....grading the skill....estimating the possible points required.....skill sessfully moduled.]


    [Ding!]


    [Name: Map


    Description:


    ??Grants the user with a detailed map of their nearby area, covering a one-kilometer radius with them as the centre.


    ??Allow the user to mark and locate specific ces, objects, and individuals on the map.


    Cost: 40 skill points]


    [Do you wish to use 40 skill points and create the skill ''Map''?]


    As he read the description, Felix nodded.


    ''So a map of one kilometre around me costs only 40 skill points, that''s not bad. Less than I had expected, let''s try more than...''


    "System, increase the radius of the skill to ten kilometres."


    [Affirmative.]


    [Ding!


    [Name: Map


    Description:


    ??Grants the user with a detailed map of their nearby area, covering a ten-kilometer radius.


    ??Allow the user to mark and locate specific ces, objects, and individuals on the map.


    Cost: 400 skill points]


    [Do you wish to use 400 skill points and create the skill ''Map''?]


    Felix sighed.


    ''As expected, the cost got multiplied by ten. It looks a bit expensive but knowing about my surroundings would help me a lot. Then let''s add thest touch....''


    "System, turn it like this."


    [Affirmative.]


    [Name: Map


    Description:


    ??Grants the user with a detailed map of their nearby area, covering a ten-kilometer radius.


    ??Allow the user to mark and locate specific ces, objects, and individuals on the map.


    ??Disys all the beings with friendly, neutral, or hostile intentions.


    ??The skill is integrated with the system for better interaction.


    Cost: 500 skill points]


    [Do you wish to use 500 skill points and create the skill ''Map''?]


    As Felix read through the details of the skill, he smiled and agreed.


    "Perfect. Create this skill."


    [Ding!]


    [Sessfully created a new skill.]


    Without hesitating, Felix used the skill as he called out to the map in his mind.


    A dull blue light shed before him, and a circlr hologram of a map, simr to the system''s interface, appeared on his line of sight.


    On the map, a ck coloured gothic building appeared, seen from the top view as if from an eagle''s eye.


    Felix widened his eyes in amazement as he jumped up from the bed and then opened the window of his room before putting his hand out.


    "There it is!"


    Now he could see on the map, a handing out from a part of the guild''s building.


    "It''s amazing, better than all the advanced software maps on the smartphones from earth, even showing the real-time changes."


    With an excited grin, Felix felt like going out and exploring the entire city.


    But he calmed himself down and inspected his new skill, using his mind to zoom out the map until it covered ten kilometres with him as the centre.


    Now, the guild building looked small like a grain, and the map disyed almost seventy percent of the Edenmont City.


    The various buildings and the patches ofnds, the jumbled up roads and the tiny alleys, the small streams across the city, and the bordering city walls on the map.


    Felix glued his eyes to the entirety of the city shown on the map, which wasn''t like a piece of paper but an actual view of the world seen from the perspective of a bird.


    "No....it''s much better than that."


    He muttured while looking around the map and zoomed in to ces as he wished, feasting his eyes with scenes of the joyful city that was bathed in the setting light.


    "Hmm... the only disadvantage is that I can only see everything from above, and ces like the insides of a building cannot be seen.", Felix pondered with his hand on his chin.


    "But that''s not an issue for now, as I can still do this."


    He thought of something in his mind, and various marks appeared on the map, mainly in green, grey, and red colour, indicating the friendly, neutral, and hostile beings.


    The ce he was at had dozens of green marks and was devoid of any red mark, including some other parts of the city nearby where he could see some green marks.


    But what suprised him the most were the lines of red marks concentrated at a building that was a few kilometres away from his location.


    "This....Is that any of the enemy guild''s building?", he frowned, not knowing how they knew about him and hadbelled him as their enemy.


    As he pondered for the cause, he recalled what he had done after joining the guild and quickly found the answer.


    "They must be the guild who tried to attack Noah, Shaya and the others at the abandoned factory mission.", Felix gritted his teeth when he remembered them.


    "Wait- Aren''t they the reason this whole guild wars situation is happening?"


    This made him more unhappy, knowing they were the ones who were causing so much trouble for him and the people around him; not that he minded the start of the guilds war though.


    ''Hmm, maybe I should visit them sometimeter....'', a wicked grin stretched on his face, as his eyes roamed around the enemy guild''s building and its surroundings.


    After spending a few hours watching the city on the live map without getting bored with all the vibrant scenes, it soon got dark as moonlight revealed itself, which made him unable to look at many ces properly.


    Felix quickly noticed the problem and spent another 100 points to upgrade the map for it to possess night mode, which made it possible of him to now see the dark ces too.


    "Enough exploring. Now let''s move on to the next one."


    He sat on the bed and closed his eyes, imagining another of the skill that he had wanted to create from the beginning.


    "System, now create the skill inspect."


    [Affirmative.]


    [Processing the skill''s power scale....grading the skill....estimating the possible points required.....skill sessfully moduled.]


    [Ding!]


    [Skill Name: Inspect


    Description:


    ??Gives the user a detailed overview of any object, ording to its grade and properties.


    ??The skill is integrated with the system for better interaction.


    Cost: 500 skill points]


    [Do you wish to use 500 skill points and create the skill ''Inspect''?]


    "Yes."


    [Ding!]


    [Sessfully created a new skill.]


    "Hmm...I''ve finally gotten this basic isekai skill."


    Felix muttered and turned his head to the table where a book was kept.


    "Let''s try this."


    He eyed the book from afar and thought of using the new skill.


    ''Inspect.''


    A system''s window suddenly appeared infront of Felix, disying the details of the book.


    [Name: ck Horizon Sword Arts.(Iplete).


    Grade: Peak Umon.


    Description:


    A Sword Arts which aims to kill the enemy at any costs, regardless of the effects it may have on its user.


    It was created by Devon Frex, the leader of the Rebellion Army from the Miledas Empire, during the Era of Chaotic Gods.


    Avable Techniques: Singr sh, Striking des and Assault Impact.]


    The boy who had used his new skill for testing purpose widened his eyes in shock.


    After reading the details of the sword arts manual book, Felix stood stunned as he muttered in amazement.


    "Damn, that caught me by surprise....who would''ve thought that a random sword arts I was given had such an amazing background..."


    Sucked into his own thoughts, Felix pondered about the possible history of the sword arts he was practising.


    ''Devon Frex? From the Miledas Empire? And what does it mean by the Era of Chaotic Gods....''

 Chapter 132: Upgraded Sword.

    Holding the sword arts manual in wonder, Felix shook his head and kept it back on the table.


    ''Though I''m curious about the book''s history, It isn''t the time to be thinking about this.''


    He went back to lying on the bed and narrowed his eyes as he became serious.


    ''The remaining skill points should be exactly 3330 now, which I should use to create newbat skills.''


    As he pondered in his mind, Felix closed his eyes and recalled all the moments of battles from the few days of hunting with Sir Graham.


    There were lots of skill ideas going around in his mind during the hunting days, but he couldn''t decide on a particr skill as he was afraid it would be a waste of skill points if he created something useless.


    ''The kind of skill that I need right now is something which can help me during the guild wars, but I don''t know the rules and the way this war is going to happen.''


    While his mind continued thinking of the possible skills to aid him and make him stronger, he heard the door knock.


    Knock Knock!


    "Felix, open the door.", Steve''s voice sounded from outside.


    ''Oh, I forgot about him.''


    Felix got up from bed and opened the door,ing face to face with Steve, who had an inquisitive expression on his face.


    "Hmm, where have you gone these days? That guy named Falcon said you were going to the forest. Was that true?"


    Felix nodded at the boy and replied.


    "Yeah, I told Falcon to inform you that. A very strong person from the underworld took me to hunt monsters in the forest, I learnt a lot from him."


    Steve widened his eyes in amazement and smiled enviously.


    "Ah, that''s amazing. I wish I could hunt some monsters, too."


    Felix chuckled at the boy''s words, who was simrly a battle maniac like him, but then his stomach grumbled.


    "How about we talk over dinner?", Felix asked in hunger.


    "Exactly my thoughts."


    Steve grinned, and both of them walked towards the dining hall after Felix locked his room.


    When Felix and Steve entered the dining hall, they felt a change in the atmosphere than usual.


    The dining hall was filled to the brim with guild members, who had gathered from all the branches and returned from their missions for the sake of the guild war.


    Felix and Steve grabbed their meals and sat at a table under the heavy aura that was of a battlefield where fights would suddenly break out.


    But the strict rules of the Twilight Chaos guild and their punishments deterred any problems from taking ce, reducing the dining hall to an adrenaline and bloodlust-filled domain.


    Unfortunately or fortunately, this didn''t stop Steve from chattering as usual and keeping Felix entertained throughout the dinner.


    Sometimeter, Roven and Eric too joined them at the table.


    The two of them seemed to have grown a bit stronger than before, which they revealed as advancing a subrank.


    They then spent the time discussing the uing guild war, but it seemed that nobody knew anything about the way it was going to happen.


    From what they knew from thest guild war in Edenmont City which was dozens of years ago, they heard that the Duke of the City would be the one to oversee and supervise the guild wars between the guilds for fairness.


    So, the rules and way the war was going to take ce depended on his decision, which he would announce on the first day of the guild wars.


    After finishing their meals, the four of them bid each other good night and returned to their rooms.


    Felix used the washroom and changed his clothes into somethingfortable before jumping onto the bed.


    "Sigh....in the end, I couldn''t figure out what skill to create."


    He muttered under his breath and stared at the ceiling.


    ''Tomorrow, I should receive my sword from that cksmith. Maybe that time I should also use the forbidden library of the underworld to broaden my knowledge....''


    Unfortunately, Felix wasn''t a nerd, or else he would''ve first found a library aftering to this world and absorbed all the information until he behaved like a normal person in this world.


    ''Let''s rest for now, I didn''t get any good sleep these five days in the forest.''


    He closed his eyes, rxing his bodyfortably into the soft mattress of the bed, devoid of the hardness and strange feeling of sleeping inside a thin tent.


    Felix took low breaths, his mind turning into nothingness as slumber overcame him.


    *****


    The next day.


    After having a good breakfast, Felix left the guild building and made his way to the secret tavern using his new skill ''Map''.


    The usual journey of around fifteen minutes took him only eight minutes to reach his destination, which made him nod at the usefulness of the skill.


    ''It''ll save a lot of my time, especially in emergency and dangerous situations.''


    Arriving at the tavern after secretly wearing his mask, he walked through all the way into the underworld from there and entered the ck market.


    The ce was bustling as usual, but there was another interesting rumour spreading around of the start of the guild wars that were taking ce tomorrow.


    "Haha, like I said, it doesn''t matter to me what happens in the outside world. I don''t even care about the guilds, as long as they don''t give me any trouble...."


    "Nah man, it would be exciting to see all of them kill each other. This kind of thing doesn''t happen usually in our city."


    "You lunatic....though that sounds good to my ears. Kekeke!"


    Everybody was discussing about the guild wars.


    Some had positive opinions while others were negative, but one thing was for sure, there was nobody who didn''t know of the uing event.


    Because the underworld was tightly restricted by the forces of the outside world, not allowing thiswless ce to disturb the lives of the normal citizens.


    And only under the agreement between the powerhouses of both the parties was the Underworld City of Edenmont allowed to exist, on the condition that they would not,, directly and indirectly interfere with the other''s matters.


    Felix perked his ears throughout his way but didn''t hear anything interesting other than what he already knew.


    He went on his way and reached his destination before entering the shop, excited to see his upgraded sword.


    When he stepped in, he saw Berd sharpening a piece of metal of his anvil, who looked up at him and smiled stiffly.


    "Oh Phantom, you''re back. Wait, I''ll call my master."


    The man walked into another room without waiting for a reply, making Felix awkward.


    ''I knew he''s kind of an introvert, but with that huge figure of his, it feels weird...''


    A few secondster, the owner and the cksmith of the shop, Sir Reegan walked out from inside with a thin and long object covered in a cloth.


    He sat at the counter while Berd stood beside him, and gestured for Felix as he ced the object on the counter.


    "Please."


    Felix nodded and walked over before grabbing the object in his hand with patience.


    He calmed down his excitement and removed the cloth covering the object, revealing a matte ck scabbard and a dark crimson hilt which emitted a dim glow.


    cing the cloth away, Felix held the scabbard firmly and slowly took the de of the sword out.


    A sharp light reflected throughout the shop, urging Felix to close his eyes but he instead just narrowed them, not taking his eyes off from his sword.


    The de appeared pristine clean as it shined brightly, and felt cold to touch when Felix moved his fingers on it.


    There wasn''t much change in the appearance except for making it look more extraordinary and a bit longer than its previous length.


    ''Inspect.''


    Felix used his new skill on the sword, which disyed the details of his sword.


    [Name: ''Unnamed''


    Grade: Low Rare


    Description:


    A lightweight and sturdy sword with a sharp de, which causes destruction proportional to the strength at which it is used.


    Can cut through the thick skin of Rank 3 beings and can negate mana-induced attacks with the de.]


    Reading through the details of the sword, Felix nodded and became satisfied with the result of the upgrade.


    "It''s done well, I now understand why he rmended you for the job."


    Reegan just nodded at thepliment, not changing his expressionless yet professional face.


    cing the sword back on the counter, Felix took out his exclusive card, which contained all the money he had earned in the underworld, and handed it to the cksmith.


    "Here, the rest eighty percent of the payment."


    Yesterday, he had already paid the advance payment of twenty percent and now he paid for the rest.


    Reegan received the card and promptly scanned it above an orb, before handing it back to the boy.


    "Thank you for using our service, we hope to receive your order again."


    The cksmith stood up and moved his hand forward, to which Felix grabbed it and shook his hand.


    "Yeah, thank you for upgrading my sword."


    After cing the sword''s scabbard on his waist, Felix gave Berd a nod and walked out of the shop.


    The master and student duo looked at each other after he left before Reegan voiced out as he moved towards his room.


    "You didn''t have to stay up the whole night to work on his sword. That goes against my rule of professionalism."


    Berd scratched his head awkwardly, not sure how to reply to his master.


    Reegan stopped at the door, with his face turned away and continued.


    "But I''ll let it slide this time-."


    ''-because I''ve never seen you work so determined and dedicated before.'', he raised the tiny corners of his lips.


    "Yes, Sir.", Berd nodded and looked towards the door, wondering what his previous teammate was about to do.


    *****


    Felix arrived at the Underworld Castle with his new sword that he kept ncing at.


    There was this strange feeling he was getting from the sword as if it was going to be something he would hold dear to him.


    ''It doesn''t have a name yet huh, I wonder what name would be suitable....''


    Felix crossed the bridge and walked over to the guards, who inspected him for a while as he showed them his exclusive card.


    The gates of the castle opened up, and Felix walked in, hoping to explore another facility of the castle where he could gain lots of information and knowledge.

 Chapter 133: Forbidden Library.

    Entering the Underworld Castle, Felix rejected the maid''s help and made his way to the forbidden library, which was located on the samerge corridor as the ''training hall''.


    Felix stood before a dark red double door, which was designed so intricately that any person would freeze and continue to stare at it for long hours.


    The same happened to Felix, but he blinked his eyes as the passive skill Equanimity came into effect.


    "Ugh....that''s some troublesome door."


    He muttered and quickly pushed the door open, stepping in as he felt a kind of silence and serenity that almost stopped his process of thought.


    ''What''s wrong with this ce? Everything seems so.....strange?''


    But that thought didn''tst long as Felix looked forward and became stunned when he witnessed the interior of the forbidden library.


    ''What the hell happened here!!??''


    Felix had stepped into the library, expecting to find rows of orderly shelves filled with ancient books and arcane knowledge.


    But instead, he was greeted by a scene of utter chaos.


    Long, dark shelves stretched as far as the eye could see, but they were all in disarray as the shelves were fallen on top of each other.


    Books, both old and new,y scattered haphazardly across the floor, some still resting on the shelves while most were randomly thrown on the floor.


    It was as if a battle had torn through the library, leaving behind a tangled mess of literature and confusion.


    Yet, strangely, there are no signs of destruction or debris ¨C only the overwhelming sense of disorder.


    "Sigh, why can''t anything in this castle be normal..."


    Felix muttered while looking around in confusion to find someone in this library for help.


    On the right side of the door, there was a counter, which he approached even though there was nobody present there.


    Searching around, he found a person sleeping inside the counter area with a book covering their face.


    Seeing the person sleeping soundly, he didn''t want to disturb them, so he instead used his skill on the counter.


    ''shback.''


    A few secondster, Felix came to know where to find the books regardingbat and battles, which he needed, to broaden his horizon regarding the power scale of this world.


    Turning around, he faced the chaotic library and wondered where to find thebat section he had heard of.


    With no other choice, Felix stepped forward, crossing the tumbled-down shelves and making his way deeper into the forbidden library, while minding his legs to not step on any of the books.


    ''Who knows.....there may be a cursed tome lying around somewhere...''


    After some minutes of searching through the various broken sections of the library, he came across a board that read ''Cultivation Archives''.


    "I guess this is it...."


    Though he reached the ce, Felix could only sigh looking at the board which had fallen on the ground, with books of all kinds thrown beside it.


    Picking up a random book near the board, Felix read its title.


    "Fred''s Monster Culinary?"


    He swiftly put the book back into its ce and rubbed his head in exhaustion.


    "This is gonna be tough."


    Looking around all the books with their covers closed and opened, suddenly, his eyes lit up as he got an idea for finding the book he needed.


    ''Inspect!''


    Felix turned on his skill, and one by one, all the books in his sight disyed their names and information.


    ''Structure of a Goblin.''


    ''Tale of the Adventures.''


    ''The Dungeon Guide.''


    ''Martial Disciplines.''


    ''Sacred Rituals.''


    ''Spells and Swords.''


    Now, instead of picking up the books and reading their names, Felix only needed to nce over and he''d get to know which book was which.


    ''Let''s choose these two for now.''


    He bent down and picked the book with titles ''Martial Disciplines'' and ''Spells and Swords''.


    Sitting on a shelf that waspletely lying on the floor, Felix opened the books and started reading them.


    After a few minutes, he sighed and stopped.


    "This is taking too much time. It''ll be better if I create a skill for reading fast even though I''ve been keen on saving the skill points."


    cing the books aside, Felix closed his eyes and started thinking of a suitable skill with features which would help him with his current dilemma.


    After some time of careful calctions for making a cheap yet useful skill, he opened his eyes and called out to the system.


    "Create this skill."


    [Affirmative.]


    [Processing the skill''s power scale....grading the skill....estimating the possible points required.....skill sessfully moduled.]


    [Ding!]


    [Skill Name: Enhanced Brain


    Description:


    ?This skill gives the user strong memory power and allows them to process information at an elerated rate andprehendplex concepts with ease.


    ?It can quickly analyze texts, extract key information, and make connections between ideas, making them adept at absorbing vast amounts of knowledge in a short amount of time.


    Cost: 120 skill points]


    [Do you wish to use 120 skill points and create the skill ''Enhanced Brain''?]


    "Yes!"


    [Ding!]


    [Sessfully created a new skill.]


    ''I wonder how useful this skill is....''


    After the system announced the creation of the new skill, Felix picked up one of the two books and a minuteter, he ced it back.


    "That was.....quick.", he widened his eyes, shocked by the plentiful information that had suddenly appeared in his head and the buzzing feeling of wanting more.


    He hurriedly picked the other book and finished reading it within a minute, as his brain made conjunctions and ideas with all the absorbed knowledge.


    "I need more..."


    Getting up, he started grabbing random books near him without a care for their content, and his mind seemed to have entered an epiphany state where only information could enter.


    His reading time also started getting shorter and shorter from the initial minute, and after reading more than thirty books, he could now read a single book within twenty seconds.


    A strange scene took ce in the shambled and untended forbidden library of the Underworld; where a boy kneeling on the floor picked up books with both of his hands and nced at them for a few seconds before picking the unread ones.


    Anybody watching him would think he was searching for some good lines from a book he had forgotten, but the boy had just read andprehended an entire book in that fleeting moment.


    *****


    A few hourster....


    Felix had fallen on the floor just like the tons of books around him, his face pale and body sweating, but there was a strangely satisfied grin on his face.


    "I don''t know...haa....why, but that was..haa....extremely thrilling!", he muttered between his breaths.


    Tired of reading almost five hundred books in one session, he closed his eyes and inclined his back on the mountain of books, going through and keeping all the new information in his mind in order.


    ''Hmm....why don''t we start with the book ''Fundamentals of Cultivation''.''


    From what Felix had read through the books, he hade to a pretty good understanding of the different power levels and their abilities of this world.


    The standard power levels of this world started from Rank 0 to all the way till Rank 9, after which he didn''t find any information of.


    Beings at Rank 0 were called as apprentice, from Rank 1 to Rank 3 were the Mortal Realm, Rank 4 to Rank 6 were the Transcendent Realm, while Rank 7 to Rank 9 were called as the Legend Realm.


    Every rank had subranks in them; namely Early, Mid, Late and Peak.


    For the first three Ranks, that is of the Mortal Rm, there wasn''t much of a difference in the power between the subranks.


    But at the Transcendent Realm and the Legend Realm, even a small variation in the power scale such as a subrank would greatly determine the fate of any battle.


    However, the most important thing that determined the power of a being would be their race and their innate abilities.


    For example, a Rank 4 Dragon with their innate ability of magic and might can easily subdue a dozens of Rank 4 Goblins, while humans with their high intelligence could simrly do the same with their various battle techniques.


    Speaking about battle techniques in the human''s realm, it was basically divided into three categories, the Aura Techniques, the Magic Techniques, and the Special Techniques.


    Warriors could use the Aura Techniques, which included the breathing skill, the weapon mastery and the aura manual altogether.


    Mages used the Magic Techniques, having their specific breathing techniques, spell chants and the mana cultivation manuals.


    Meanwhile the Special Techniques were a rare type of abilities that only one among tens of thousands of people could have, either from birth or at a random point in their life.


    But they could also be awakened from heritage, rituals, experiments or some extreme conditions.


    It could be anything simple from enhanced eyesight to something great like telekinesis.


    But one thing was for certain, people with Special Techniques were the most sought after in this world by various organisations and kingdoms.


    ''This is moreplicated than I thought....''


    Felix knit his brows as he went through the information of another book that he had read.


    This book was titled ''Secrets of Warriors'', which contained the details of the Aura manifestation and controlling methods.


    It was written that only a person with strong will and an undefeated mindset would be able to aweken the path to manifesting Aura, in which he could manipte his own and the surrounding''s energy as he wanted, but very few people would be able to achieve such a feat.


    From another book of the experiences of a famous adventurer, he also understood the various knowledge about survival, fauna, hunting, geography and the general information of this world.


    In the end, the more than 500 books had tremendously increased his knowledge of this world, including random topics like, ''The Reproduction of Monsters'', ''Building a Carriage''  and ''How to handle a dead body with magic''.

 Chapter 134: Underworld Facilities.

    Absorbing and refining the new knowledge in his head, Felix took deep breaths as many ideas of new skills started to gather in his mind.


    ''Now things are starting to make more sense...''


    The main reason he came to thebat section of the library was to read books and understand the way the people of this world fought, and the various kinds of techniques that they used.


    So that when he creates skills, it wouldn''t be somethingpletely off from what they could do, making him appear as the odd one and then be the target of their suspicion.


    It wouldn''t matter if he was one of the strongest in the world, but he was still weak, and disying such strange skills would only get him in troublesome situations.


    He didn''t want kingdoms to capture him and some crazy mages to experiment on him for his uniqueness.


    Opening his eyes, Felix used the fallen shelves as support and got up from the floor.


    It seemed there was a toll on his body, especially the head, from continuously reading hundreds of books in one take.


    "Growl~"


    Hearing the weak sound from his stomach, Felix smiled wrily and made his way towards the door of the library.


    On his way, he suddenly stopped as he saw a person sitting on a chair elegantly amidst the chaotic scene of the library.


    It was a woman wearing a brown robe, which couldn''t hide her tender and curvy figure, but the mask on her headpletely hid her face except for her green charming eyes.


    Her presence seemed to have turned the tumbled-down library into a picturesque and aesthetic scene, adding beauty and elegance to the messy ce.


    Felix narrowed his eyes on her, wondering where she got the chair from when he had to just sit on the floor, and then furrowed his brows as she looked familiar.


    ''Hmm...where have I seen her...''


    As he churned his exhausted mind to recall where he had seen her, his vision slightly faltered, stopping him from continuing to stare at her.


    ''Ugh, whatever. I am in no mood for that now...''


    Holding his hungry and grumbling tummy, Felix quickly walked out of the library without making a single sound and thus failed to notice the woman who had turned towards him.


    "Phantom, I didn''t think you''d get involved in this...", she muttered while staring at his leaving figure, her calcting eyes turning brighter.


    *****


    Aftering out from the Forbidden Library, Felix headed directly to the Nether Cuisine, a facility created specifically to satisfy the appetite of the elites in the underworld.


    ''I just hope this ce isn''t dysfunctional or chaotic like the other two...''


    Standing before a door present within a tunnel inside the corridor, he wished himself safety and protection from whatever was inside and pushed open the door to enter it.


    A dim golden light shined on his face the moment he stepped inside, and his eyes widened in surprise, not at something thatpletely blew his mind but at the simple yet ssy design of the restaurant.


    ''This is still against normalcy, but it isn''t unlikeable.''


    The entire ce seemed to have been carved out within the ground. The walls, the floors, and the ceilings were literally made up of earth, or in simple terms, this ce was a ''cave''.


    There were various tunnels Felix could see at the entrance, with boards above them mentioning different types of cuisines, like vegetables, meat, monsters, seafood, and others.


    There was even a tunnelbelled ''posion'', which Felix didn''t want to have on his empty stomach.


    Beside the entrance, there were a few desks for asking directions and help, but Felix didn''t waste time there and deftly walked towards where his heart desired.


    ''The Meat Section.''


    Dragging his legs into the tunnel, Felix arrived at a hollow ce that had plenty of empty tables and chairs, with only a few people dining.


    His hunger had reached its peak, so he quickly grabbed a seat and gestured at a waiter nearby.


    "Please bring me something to eat that''ll arrive in the shortest time possible. Also, don''t be stingy with the quantity and send more."


    The waiter who heard the strange order nodded hurriedly and ran away from the hungry stare the customer was giving.


    A few secondster, the same waiter pushed a cart and arrived beside Felix, giving him tes and tes of food full of meats.


    Felix didn''t care what was present before him and dived into the tes, his hands grabbing whatever he could find on the table before throwing it into his mouth.


    The waiter and the other customers nced at him speechlessly, wondering what kind of heavy work he had done beforeing here.


    Twenty minutester, Felix finished eating until his tummy got filled and paid the waiter with his exclusive card.


    Waking out of the Nether Cuisine, he decided to visit another important facility of the Underworld Castle and moved towards its direction.


    Secondster, he arrived at some stairs leading below the floor and went downstairs.


    A long corridor appeared before him, with doors on either side and boards above them disying the names of the ces.


    But there was a main board hanging from the ceiling of the corridor, and written on it were the words ''Treasure za''.


    ''I heard this ce sells the most valuable of treasures like Battle Techniques, Weapons and Artifacts...''


    Thest time he hade to the Underworld Castle, the maid had guided him and Falcon through all the avable facilities for them, though briefly.


    This ''Treasure za'' was one of the many facilities that intrigued him the most, when he heard that he could find the most secret and illegal things there.


    Just the thought of these taboo and unprohibited things that may harm its users in many ways made him feel curious.


    Also with his cheat of creating any skill, he could find some useful treasures for himself and negate any drawbacks like curses or restrictions it may have on it.


    ''Hmm, let''s see....''


    Felix stood puzzled in the corridor, reading the words written above the many doors.


    There were dozens of doors in the long corridor, each one opening to a shop belonging to an elite underworld member or some professional illegal merchants.


    The names of these shops were all bizarre like Thordon''s Basement, The Illegal Corner, Rogue''s Finds, and The Smuggling Merchant.


    Pondering to himself, Felix walked around and chose a shop at random to enter.


    ''Anyways, with my Inspect skill, there''s no way I''m getting scammed.'', he smirked.


    Pushing the door open, he stepped into a shop named ''An Ouw''s Shack''  and took in the scene that caught him off guard even when he was prepared for something strange.


    But it would be better to say that he didn''t actually take in any sight, because he couldn''t, as a thickyer of smoke covered every inch of the shop.


    Just when he was about to take a step back to exit the shop, a murmuring voice trickled his ears.


    ".....wee dear customer, how may I help you....."


    Felix quickly turned his head in the direction of the voice and held his breath when an ugly face was a few inches away from his face.


    His thoughts got jumbled up for a second before he hurriedly stepped away and took a battle stance unsheating his sword with unstable breathing.


    ''Gosh that scared me!''


    The ugly face, which was the only part of the person that could be seen in the gaseous room, stared at him nkly and muttered in a low voice.


    "...dear customer, is there anything you would like to buy from my shop..."


    Felix nced at the face cautiously and looked around in confusion.


    "I can''t even see what you''re selling, so how am I supposed to buy anything from your shop?"


    The ugly face sighed, then closed his eyes as he muttered a chant of a spell.


    Swoosh~


    A whirlwind was conjured in the middle of the shop, sucking away all the gas present inside and turning it into a small orb of solid white crystal.


    ''H-How did he do that....''


    Felix widened his eyes in shock, now that he could see the interior of the shop, and turned to the hunched-back man who had just done something magical.


    "Was that a magic spell? But what attribute does that belong to? Wind?"


    The ugly man shook his head and replied matter-of-factly.


    "A magic spell? No. That was just a basic technique of Compression of an enchanter."


    Standing in the shop without even looking at the items present, Felix rubbed his chin as he came across a rather rare and new profession.


    ''Hmm, an enchanter? That''s interesting....''

 Chapter 135: Shopping.

    "....umm, are you going to buy something or not?", the enchanter and the shopkeeper of the store ''The Ouw''s Shack'' asked tiredly.


    Felix came out of his thoughts from hearing a new profession and nodded at the man.


    "Yeah, let me just look around if I can find something interesting."


    The shopkeeper closed his eyes, sighed, nodded, and walked over to the counter beforefortably sitting there.


    Felix didn''t mind the behaviour of the man as he knew the people of this ce weren''t your average civilians.


    He walked around the shop to look at the things kept within the various shelves and containers.


    Meanwhile, he also turned on his skill.


    ''Inspect!''


    A bunch of holograms appeared in front of his eyes, filling up his entire vision, containing the information of all the things he used the skill on.


    [Yerqin de.]


    [Wyern''s Teeth.]


    [Dusty Robe.]


    [Light Orb.]


    [Sneezy Potion.]


    [Magic Stone.]


    Felix nced at the random objects all around him, reading their information and knowing their uses.


    ''Hmm, they''re not very useful to me...''


    A brief nce at their descriptions made him feel that there weren''t any items that woulde to help him in theing days.


    Yes, the items had gained his curiosity, but that wouldn''t mean he''d be wasting his hard-earned money on something that would have no use in the next days in front of him.


    Shaking his head, Felix walked over to the shopkeeper who was zoning out while holding a red and white coloured book.


    Felix unintentionally read the title of the book the man was ''reading'' and showed an amused look.


    "Hmm? ''The Lady Charmer''? Wait- Is it what I think it is?", raising his brow, an interested gleam lit up in his eyes.


    Stretching his head over the counter, Felix peeked at the contents of the book ''The Lady Charmer'' which was held loosely by the shopkeeper.


    His eyes slowly widened in agitation when he read things of important knowledge that blew his mind.


    A few minutester, he returned from his stretching position and clenched his fists, in hopes of resisting himself from turning the page of the book to the next.


    But seeing how the shopkeeper was clumsily holding the book while dozing off, Felix steeled his rapidly beating heart and sneakily moved his fingers to turn the page.


    It seemed that he had used a bit too force while touching the book or that the man had held it very softly, but the book tragically slipped past the man''s hands and mmed on the counter.


    bam!


    A pair of exhausted and nk eyes opened up from its much-needed rest and stared right into the crimson eyes of a panic-riddled customer.


    "Ah, th...this....I um was looking for any nice items near the counter. Sorry for disturbing you. Then, farewell."


    Turning around to run away from the awkward moment, Felix decided to abandon any of his ns of buying something from here and swiftly walked towards the door.


    The shopkeeper''s eyes glowed eerily for a second as he swiftly jumped and blocked Felix''s way.


    "...dear customer, now that you''ve seen something you shouldn''t have. There''s only one option left for you, and that''s definitely not exiting this shop."


    Felix narrowed his eyes and grabbed onto his sword, ready for any action.


    "What do you want then?"


    The shopkeeper took a deep breath and suddenly bowed his head, almost at a ny degree, and blurted out earnestly.


    "Please! I''m willing to give you a twenty per cent discount on anything you buy! So please don''t tell anyone what I was reading!"


    A strange silence followed.


    Felix twitched his lips and let go of his sword, staring speechlessly at the man bowing towards him.


    ''I thought he was going to start fighting... Well, I guess I got lucky getting a discount out of nowhere.''


    Rubbing his chin, Felix nodded and agreed to the man''s request.


    "Alright, okay. I won''t say a single word about what you were reading to anyone.", he thought for a second and added with a gulp.


    "But.....you''ll have to also give me a copy of that book."


    What Felix had read from just two pages of that book made him feel as if it was written by a magician who could steal the hearts of women with almost no effort.


    He wondered what else was there in the rest of the book for gaining such a reaction from the shopkeeper to keep it a secret.


    Hearing Felix''s demand, the shopkeeper hesitated and gnawed on his lips, but after giving it a thought, he decided.


    "Sigh...that''s fine. I can give you a copy, but you''ll have to promise me never to reveal where you got the book from."


    Felix genuinely nodded and patted his chest, promising the shopkeeper.


    "Don''t worry, I won''t tell a soul about it."


    After that, the shopkeeper moved to the back of the counter and ransacked through his personal materials,ing back with a simr red and white covered book.


    "Here, you can have this one. Don''t go showing it around like how I did, I was just used to being alone in the shop, so I forgot there was a customer. Now please leave me alone.", the shopkeeper warned and muttered with an exhausted face.


    He didn''t like that he was giving away a masterpiece of a book, which hade from a far distance and when he could only get two of them using all of his connections and treasures.


    Felix grabbed the book before cing it within his robe, and instead of exiting the shop, he asked curiously.


    "Hey, that ce back there.", he pointed at the door behind the counter and asked.


    "Do you have any items to sell in there?"


    The shopkeeper nced back and rubbed his forehead before quickly shaking his head and refuting.


    "Don''t even think about it. That''s my personal collection! I''m not selling any of them."


    Felix pulled at his robe and showed him a glimpse of the book, smirking as he asked.


    "Even now?"


    The shopkeeper showed a gloomy face as he gnashed his teeth, but he calmed down and sighed.


    "O-One. You can buy only one from it!"


    "Hmm, I think three is not bad...."


    "No! Only one!"


    Felix quickly pulled his robe again.


    "Y-You...", the shopkeeper held himself back from punching the troublesome customer, but he didn''t have any fighting prowess except for some basic techniques.


    "T-Two then. That''s myst offer."


    Felix pondered and realised that maybe he didn''t have much money to buy three items, so he shrugged and agreed to it.


    "Two it is then. Should Ie over, or will you bring them here?", he asked impatiently.


    The shopkeeper red at him hatefully and harrumphed.


    "Just wait here, I''ll bring them."


    As Felix nced in anticipation, the man went in and returned back with a chest box, which he unlocked using an enchanter''s magical technique.


    Far from his expectations, the interior of the chest didn''t shine in golden colour or anything, but it did smell quite unique like old antiques and books.


    "Hurry and take any two of them, it''s not like you know what they are...", the shopkeeper snorted as even he wasn''t exactly sure about the things in his collection, except that everything in there was hard toe across.


    Felix raised his brows, looking at the stuff inside the chest, and smirked as he thought.


    ''Oh, of course I know what they are....Inspect!''


    Dozens of windows opened up and appeared in front of his vision, containing the information about the things in the chest that even its owner was unaware of.


    [Doppelganger Mask.]


    [Blood Amulet.]


    [Fey Contract.]


    [Vesper Poison.]


    [Mist Bomb.]


    [Silent Scroll.]


    [Elemental Talismans.]


    [Ink of Darkness.]


    .


    .


    Amidst the information of the various treasures, Felix focused only on the ones that interested him and could be somewhat useful in the guild wars.


    The rest were also not bad, but he could only take two, and he also didn''t have much money, so he chose the best among them, which suited him the most.


    .


    .


    [Name: Blood Amulet.


    -Grade: Low Rare


    -Description:


    ?A ne-shaped object crafted using the Blood of a Vampire and a Healing Orb.


    -Abilities:


    ?Grants its user slight resistance to negative attacks.


    ?Increases the capacity of the user''s thought process when wounded.]


    [Name: Elemental Talismans.


    -Grade: High Rare


    -Description:


    ?A set of five magically inscribed talismans, one each from the attributes, Fire, Water, Earth, Air and Thunder.


    Abilities:


    ?Can be attached to any weapon to gain a wisp of elemental power in its every attack.


    (Only one talisman can be used per weapon.)


    ?Conjures an elemental barrier when all talismans are used together.]


    .


    .


    Felix grinned and grabbed the two items before cing them on the counter.


    "I''ll be buying these two. Can you tell me their price?"


    The shopkeeper didn''t reply as he quickly locked back his chest and rushed inside another room to ce it in a safe corner.


    Returning out, he stared nkly at Felix and blurted out.


    "Both of those items are my personal treasures, so with the discount of twenty percent, it''ll cost you 85 thousand tahl."


    Felix took out his exclusive card and asked cunningly.


    "Do I get another discount with this card?"


    The shopkeeper looked at him with hatred and snapped tiredly.


    "Huh? You sure are taking advantage of me! But fortunately the discount from the exclusive card doesn''t work for these facilities as even I have it."


    He gave a smirk and shed his own simr exclusive card in return.


    Felix shrugged and handed the card to him, as the man didn''t know the true values of the treasures he was going to lose.


    "Hmphh."


    Taking the card, the shopkeeper rapidlypleted the payment procedure using an orb and handed the card back, hoping for this unwanted customer to leave his shop.


    After keeping the two treasures on him, Felix turned around to leave and walked towards the door.


    When he was just about to step out the door, he unconsciously turned on his ''Inspect'' skill and froze at what he found.


    [Cursed Compass.]


    ''What!"


    A quick nce through the description of the item left him speechless, making him hurriedly turn around to ask the man.


    "Hey, I want to buy this too."


    The shopkeeper, who started smiling due to his departure, twitched all of a sudden at his question.


    "S-Sure, just take it with you."


    ncing at the small and brokenpass, the shopkeeper agreed swiftly as he just wanted to be left alone.


    "How much does it cost?", Felix inquired, ready to spent all the money he had on him to buy it.


    The shopkeeper waved his hand impatiently, wanting the person to just buzz off and leave the shop as quickly as possible.


    "No, it''s fine. You can just have it."


    Felix widened his eyes in shock while pausing his hand which held his card, and turned to thepass to once again look at its description.


    "R-Really? I can just take it?", he asked unbelievably.


    "Yes yes, go on."


    The shopkeeper didn''t give it a single thought and smiled stiffly, nodding his head like a woodpecker.


    "Thank you, man. You....you''re a great person."


    Felix looked at the man with such feelings that the shopkeeper nced away in anger,  not wanting to get tricked again by this customer.


    Grabbing thepass ced near the door, Felix waved his hand to bid the shopkeeper farewell, his mood bing joyful.


    After Felix stepped out of the door with a spring in his steps, the shopkeeper ran and hurriedly closed the door of the shop.


    "Finally, I can have some peace..."


    Walking back to the counter, he picked up his book ''The Lady Charmer'', and earnestly started reading it for the umpteenth time.

 Chapter 136: Calm Before The Storm.

    Exiting the ''Ouw''s Shack'' shop, Felix walked out through the corridor as he made his way to the main hall of the Underworld Castle.


    Meanwhile, he held the ck colouredpass with mysterious symbols he got for free and grinned while looking at it''s description.


    [Name: Cursed Compass


    -Grade: Low Epic


    -Description:


    ? A mysticalpass created by the Dark Mages of the Forgotten Empire.


    ? It absorbs the residual soul of any recently deceased being, and indicates the direction to their most treasured possession.


    Current Souls: 0/10]


    He needed only one nce through the description for him to know that this thing was something many would fight over.


    In fact, he thought the grade low epic was actually not giving any justice to its ability.


    ''The dark mages of the forgotten empire? I seem to have read something about this forgotten empire in the library before.''


    Felix knit his brows as he remembered a book exining about the brief history of some parts of this world.


    In there, he read about an Empire that ruled over the entire western seas, which had suddenly gotten destroyed and disappeared in a few days after angering a force they shouldn''t have.


    Though it was hard for him to believe that an entire empire vanished within a few days, Felix chose to believe in it as he knew how strong the inhabitants of this world were.


    ''This inspect skill is really incredible! To think I got such a treasure with my luck, it sure is amazing...''


    Keeping thepass safe in his robe, he wondered what kind of treasures he could find with its help.


    *****


    Felix walked out from the Underworld Castle  and moved towards the ck market area as he had some work there.


    Without wasting any time, he headed straight towards a deserted corner of the ce.


    A building appeared in front him, and he briskly stepped in.


    Entering the hall, he saw a gray robed man guarding the ce, who at his arrival, nodded at him and walked upstairs to notify his boss.


    Felix waited downstairs and some timeter, the man returned as he gestured his hand towards the room on the upper floor.


    Stepping upstairs, Felix turned the knob and entered a messy room that was full of papers and ink, while simultaneously removing his mask.


    A man wearing a dark blue suit with a robe on his shoulders sat behind a desk as he fiddled with a pen while staring at a paper.


    "Mr.Dealer, it''s nice to see you.", Felix greeted as he walked to the middle of the room.


    "Oh Felix, you''re here. Tomorrow''s the big day, I presume?"


    Mr.Dealer grinned as he ced the pen down and gestured towards a seat.


    Sitting down, Felix nodded.


    "Yes, the guild wars will begin tomorrow. And that is also the reason I came here.", he added as he narrowed his eyes.


    "I wanted to ask if you knew anything about the involvement of the dark guilds in tomorrow''s events."


    Mr.Dealer leaned back on his seat, and sped his hands together, a sharp gleam passing through his eyes as he smiled.


    "Hehe, you''re asking the right person. There''s no one else in the entire underworld that knows the dark guilds better than me."


    Felix showed an impressed expression as he asked in interest.


    "Then can you tell me about the hidden scenes behind all these guild wars and such releated to the dark guilds?"


    Turning serious, Mr.Dealer stared at Felix into his eyes and replied.


    "I usually sell this kind of information for a high price, but as you''re arade of mine with a simr goal, I can tell you about it."


    Felix nodded rapidly as he grew excited to understand the truth about everything that was happening, so that he may not remain clueless at any situation.


    "Please tell me about it."


    Mr.Dealer took a deep breath to start his exnation and responded.


    "Alright, then listen carefully."


    *****


    As Felix walked out from Mr.Dealer''s base building, he stopped on the road and nced above with a thoughtful face.


    ''It''s a lot dangerous than I thought...''


    He gulped at the sheer prospect of things happening exactly as Mr.Dealer mentioned.


    It was not that he was afraid from the battles and chaos, but arge ce like the Edenmont City had many innocent people and children, who had nothing to do with the fight among all these factions.


    He didn''t care who was right or wrong, but the mere fact that the dark guilds were not going to stop until they conquered and almost destroyed this city in the process for an unknown reason made him feel restless.


    ''I don''t have any time. I need to get stronger if I have to survive in this bloody situation!''


    Gritting his teeth to release the stress in his mind, Felix decided to go back to the library to increase his knowledge and information regarding many things that maye to help him.


    He walked back to the Underworld Castle and entered the library, ignoring the snoring librarian as he shuffled through the shelves to read books of all kinds, especially of thebat tactics.


    A few hourster, Felix exited the Underworld Castle after having another bout at the Nether Cuisine.


    He looked as if he was ready for war as he took confident strides and made his way to leave the Underworld.


    *****


    Coming out from the hidden tavern, Felix entered some alleys and removed his mask, before blending into the crowd.


    The sun slowly settled down on the horizon, its rays falling on the streets where people of the city bustled around.


    Vendors sold fruits and vegetables, people bargained as they desired, little kids yed around at the corners as few carriages passed through the wide road.


    Walking in silence as he nced at his surroundings, Felix sighed as he knew everyone would be facing many troubles from now on.


    He clenched his fists, hoping he could do something to help them but he was too weak currently.


    Even he was not sure if he could survive the ''guild wars'', which wasn''t just a feud between a few guilds, but something more sinister.


    As for running away?


    That could''ve been an option if he had just arrived to this city yesterday, but after living here for more than a month, he hade to develop some feelings for this ce.


    The bunch of travellers who had unknowingly brought him to this Edenmont City, the five kids who invited him to the guild Twilight Chaos, the receptionist Miss Elsa, his current teammates Steve, Roven, and Eric.


    And people like Mr.Dealer, Falcon, Berd, Henry, Dufus, Sir Graham and the rest from the Underworld.


    Everyone who he had met in this city treated him well, unlike in his previous life where he was just a lonely orphan being the target of many troublesome people.


    As he walked on the road, the street lights got turned on one by one.


    In front of him, a middle-aged woman looked around in panic as she muttured something under her breath.


    People seemed to look at her in confusion but the woman was pale as a sheet of paper as she kept repeating the same words.


    "....Ria...Ria...where are you, Ria...where did you go?"


    When Felix reached beside her, his sensitive ears picked up her words, giving him an idea of what was happening.


    "Umm excuse me, are you looking for someone?", he asked politely.


    The woman flinched at the sudden question but nodded in panic as she controlled her emotions.


    "Y-Yes, I''m l-looking for Ria, my daughter. She...She was...I don''t know...where she is. My Ria..", the woman could not bring her words together as if she couldn''t believe she lost sight of her daughter.


    Felix understood the situation and calmed down thedy as he assured her with a smile.


    "Don''t worry mam, your daughter must be somewhere nearby. I''ll help you find her."


    The woman couldn''t calm down as she continued muttering and looked around the ce in panic.


    "Excuse me for a second."


    Felix sighed and ced his hand on the woman''s shoulder, before using his skill as he closed his eyes.


    ''shback!''


    A brief momentter, he opened his eyes back and called thedy as he pointed at a nearby clothing shop.


    "Mam, I think your daughter has entered into that building. Why don''t we look for her there?"


    As Felix convinced her, the woman nodded and followed behind him as they entered the shop.


    "Hmm? Ria....?"


    A 4 year old little girl was running around in the brightly lit up clothing shop as two of the employees chased behind to look after her.


    Hearing her name being called, the little girl turned around and shouted in delight.


    "Mama!"


    Before the little girl could run upto her mother, the woman arrived beside her as she took her in her bosom.


    "Sniff Ria...my Ria...."


    "Mama....Mama..."


    Seeing the joyous moment between the mother and the daughter, Felix smiled sweetly as the two employees walked toward him.


    "Are you their family member?", they asked.


    Felix shook his head as he handled them.


    "No, I''m not. I was helping the woman find her daughter."


    The two employees turned to look at each other and simultaneously bowed at him in slight tears.


    "Thank you....thank you very much for bringing her mother. We''re ashamed to say this, but we couldn''t handle a single child. It''s only because of you that we won''t be getting fired from our jobs."


    Felix waved his hands at them, not minding doing a good deed.


    "No need to thank me, I just wanted to help thedy. But it''s alright now that they are back together again."


    The employees looked at him with happy smiles, and muttered amongst each other after taking a deep look at him.


    Then they turned to him and said hopefully.


    "Sir, we''re willing to gift you any of the clothes from our store. Please feel free to try them out and take them home, our shop will too benefit from it if you do so."


    Their goal was gifting him anything and at the same time advertising their clothes, killing two birds with one stone.


    Felix didn''t hesitate to agree to the deal which was the same as the previous time.


    He then tried out various of different clothes, as the woman and the little girl also helped him choose the ones that suited him the most.


    Although all of the clothes present there looked better when they were especially on him.


    ''I better not turn out to be a narcissistic...''


    As he received the few bags of clothes from the shop, he waved his hand to bid the two employees and the mother-daughter pair goodbye, and walked away.


    ''Map!''


    Turning on the map skill, Felix found his way back to the guild building as the three moons peeked out from the clouds.


    Holding all the bags on his one hand, he used the other hand to take out his id card.


    He swiped his id card on the evil eye on the door, which glowed red as usual before opening the door.


    Separating the many bags on both of his hands to maintain the bnce, Felix stepped inside the guild building as the doors opened up.


    But suddenly, he paused at the doorstep.


    A number of eyes turned towards him as he felt the rising bloodlust and adrenaline filling up in the main hall.


    With lots of shopping bags in his hands, Felix remained frozen as a thought emerged in his mind.


    ''Why am I feeling a sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu....''

 Chapter 137: End of the beginning.

    As Felix stood unmoving at the doorstep of the guild''s building, the main hall which was filled with many of the guild members turned silent.


    "Oh Felix, you''re back in time!", a green-haired young man jumped out from the crowd and walked over to him.


    "S-Steve, what is happening here?"


    Felix gulped as he felt nervous under everybody''s stare.


    "Let me exin. As our guild is going to war tomorrow, the guild leader decided to have a meeting, so everyone gathered here before that."


    Steve answered as he pulled him towards a corner where the rest of their team were waiting.


    On the other hand, the crowd seemed to have rxed a bit after seeing the casual attitude of Felix, as if he wasn''t tense about tomorrow.


    They returned to discussing and chatting, as Felix and Steve sat on the sofa where their team was sitting.


    "Haha, it''s like you''re not fazed at all for the war, Felix.", Roven chuckled as he eyed him strangely.


    ''Did he grow stronger?''


    Steve also nodded and looked at the bags the boy was keeping beside the sofa.


    "You''re right, he even had the time to go shopping."


    Felix smiled wrily but didn''t say anything about it, letting them misunderstand.


    Eric on the other hand ignored everyone as he nted his head into a book, learning the path of a mage.


    The team conversed with each other, exchanging thetest information and guessing the method by which the guild wars would take ce.


    The main hall turned from the tense atmosphere hungry for blood to a busy lobby of people chattering about random things.


    As the guild members rxed and chatted about, the receptionist Miss Elsa walked down the stairs.


    Everyone heard the footsteps of her heels, turning silent as they all slowly got up from their seats.


    Elsa stopped above a few steps on the stairs, overlooking some hundred guild members who all had different expressions on their faces.


    There were some who were nervous, some eager, some hesitant, some excited; but nobody among them showed a scared face.


    Opening her mouth, Elsa addressed them.


    "By the orders of the guild leader, we''ll be having a short meeting on the fourth floor to discuss tomorrow''s events. Everyone is ordered to attend it, and are to strictly listen and follow the words that the guild leader has to say."


    The guild members nodded seriously at her words and started moving upstairs.


    Miss Elsa moved to the side to allow them to go and joined Felix and his team on the way upstairs.


    "Is everything alright, Miss Elsa? You''re acting...strange.", Felix asked as he noticed her frown and unstable walk.


    Previously, she had always been calm and collected whenever the talk of the guild war came up, but today she seemed tense.


    His concern was shared by his other teammates too, who looked at her in worry.


    "Felix is right. I''ve not seen you acting like this before...", Roven looked at his sister carefully.


    Elsa sighed as she rxed her face, and gave them a wry smile as she responded.


    "The situation just got worse than before. I know you want to hear what it''s about, but it''ll be better if the guild leader exins it himself."


    Stopping on the stairs, she turned back towards them and advised grimly.


    "Also, I personally suggest you four to not take part in this fight. Because you''ll only be cannon fodder if you do...."


    The four boys froze in their spots, understanding the gravity of the situation from her tone.


    But Steve walked forward, his eyes burning with conviction as he looked at his teammates.


    "Don''t worry guys, we won''t be alone this time. The entire guild will be together with us, and I don''t think anything or anyone is capable of stopping all of us."


    The other three nodded their heads with a grin, though Eric took a heavy gulp, and followed after him under Miss Elsa''s widened eyes.


    ''Yes, how could I forget!? We''re all in this together! That means all of them will be there!''


    Her eyes lit up, a beautiful yet chaotic smile growing on her face when she remembered her previousrades who had returned.


    Elsa stepped upstairs behind the entire group, her lithe figure disappearing from the main hall as everyone''s footsteps faded down.


    *****


    The fourth floor of the Twilight Chaos guild building.


    A line of guild members walked on from the stairs and stepped into the massive meeting hall that could amodate a thousand people.


    Felix and the boys too entered, as they nced around the ce with Miss Elsa closing the doors after everyone got in.


    The meeting hall was filled with rushing adrenaline as all the guild members stood waiting for their leader as they faced a podium.


    Unlike the main hall, this ce didn''t have bright lighting, instead, it had dim orbs of golden light that enveloped the room with an arcane atmosphere.


    Silence prevailed in the hall, the previous chattering from the lounge curbing down as everyone took soft breaths.


    Creak~


    A door beside the podium opened, and a few people wearing sophisticated and intricately designed robes entered.


    Their presence seemed to have brightened the room as all eyes turned towards them.


    Atst, a man with long ck hair reaching his waist and sharp eyes stepped in, after which the door was closed.


    Felix nced at the new people curiously as Steve whispered in his ears.


    "That man is our guild leader."


    He didn''t have to point at the said person to indicate that, as everybody''s eyes had naturally turned towards that man who was oozing a powerful and confident aura.


    ''He looks...incredibly strong.''


    Felix nodded as he could feel a terrifying pressure pressing down on him just looking at the man from afar.


    As the rest of the newly arrived people stood respectively at the rear side of the podium, the guild leader stood at the front as he smiled at the crowd.


    "My fellow guildmates, I''m Dante Grimsby, the guild leader of Twilight Chaos.", he started by introducing himself.


    "I gathered you all here to share with you the details of tomorrow''s event."


    Everyone nodded and perked up their ears.


    "Let''s not beat around the bush any longer, for this may affect each one of our lives. Something that I do not wish for."


    Dante''s smile disappeared from his face as he turned serious.


    "Tomorrow, we''ll be fighting against not four, but six guilds."


    Boom!


    It was as if an explosion had sted inside their minds, as the guild members took a deep breath in shock.


    Felix and his teammates widened their eyes, realising what Miss Elsa was tensed about.


    Nobody let out a voice although they were astounded, but everyone shared the same thoughts.


    ''Is this for real?!''


    Looking at the aghast faces of his guildmates, Dante nced around briefly as he continued.


    "Our Twilight Chaos Guild, along with the guild Mystic Society, will be facing off against Crimson Dawn, Fanged Legion, Mad Wolves, Grey Talons, Raven Shields, and the re Sky guilds."


    Dante paused to take a breath as he could see the guild members showing lots of emotions as they had one or the other waye across these guilds, and not in a friendly way.


    "It will be two against six, putting ourselves at a huge disadvantage. But.....is that enough to make us fear them?"


    He raised his brow, suddenly letting out a bloodthirsty aura that waspletely opposite to his calm attitude.


    "Have we, the Twilight Chaos, ever turned our backs away from a fight?"


    A sudden change erupted among the people as their eyes slowly lit up.


    "HAVE WE?", Dante raised his tone.


    "NO SIR!!"


    The guild members replied at the top of their lungs as they grabbed their weapons tightly.


    Felix gulped at the change in the environment as even his teammates were shouting out loud, but his lips were raising in thrill too.


    "Are just six guilds enough to stop us? ARE THEY!?"


    "NO SIR!!"


    Dante smiled, putting his hands behind him as he walked around the front edge of the podium.


    "That''s right. With all of us together, they can never defeat us.", he narrowed his eyes as he smiled cruelly, "because they don''t even know who we really are."


    The ones behind him on the podium smiled simrly, as the thought of defeat never once crossed their minds.


    Dante stopped back at the podium''s center and ordered calmly.


    "Now listen, we''ll be leaving the guild building tomorrow for the guild war at 9 am sharp. Those of you not present at that time will be left behind. It''s up to your choice whether you want toe or not, the guild will never force you."


    Nodding at someone beside him, he concluded.


    "And that''s the end of the meeting. I hope you all get yourselves ready, as tomorrow will be a busy day."


    With that, Dante walked down the podium along with some others and stepped out of the room.


    The remaining guild members chattered among themselves as they too started walking out of the meeting hall.


    Felix and his team walked back to the main hall as they talked.


    "So Felix, what do you think of the guild leader? That must''ve been the first time you''ve seen him, right?"


    Steve elbowed him as he asked curiously.


    The others turned towards him to hear what he would say.


    Felix thought for a second and replied matter-of-factly with a serious expression.


    "That man was strong, confident, fearless, and charismatic. I can swear I''ve never met anyone like him in my life, I''m impressed."


    Those were his true thoughts of the guild leader, as he had nevere across anyone like that man in his previous life and this one too.


    He was impressed not only by the man''s power and strength, but also by his ability to transform a hesitant crowd into a fearless one.


    Steve and the boys grinned as they looked at each other.


    "We knew you would say that. Everyone here respects him, for both his personality and his strength. You don''t know but.....", Steve suddenly started his chatterbox technique.


    Miss Elsa walked down from the stairs and pped her hands at them, making the other three thankful for the interruption.


    "Well well, enough of the chatting. If you guys want toe along tomorrow, then I advise you better eat your dinners and rest early today."


    Eric brightened up as he didn''t want to spend another second with Steve and nodded quickly before disappearing up the stairs.


    "Oh, I guess he must be tired.", Elsa shrugged before looking at the others.


    "I''m going too, we''ll meet tomorrow for breakfast guys.", Roven his hand and yawned as he walked away.


    Steve looked at Felix hopefully, wanting him to apany him for some more talking.


    Felixpletely ignored the puppy eyes and nodded at Miss Elsa as he grabbed his shopping bags from the sofa.


    "I''ve to sort out these things for now, good night Miss Elsa."


    Steve sighed, biting his lips as he was a bit disappointed.


    As Felix walked away, he suddenly stopped and turned around to call.


    "Come on Steve, I''m hungry. We can continue our talk in the dining hall."


    A surprised gleam lit up in Steve''s eyes, as he got up while nodding.


    "Y-Yeah, I''ming. Wait for me..."


    He caught up with Felix, giving him help with the bags as they walked upstairs together.


    Miss Elsa stared at their backs, with a faint smile stretching on her lips.


    "I hope you guys survive....."

 Chapter 138: Volume 2- The Guild Wars: Start of the War.

    The next day.


    Twilight Chaos Guid Building.


    1st Floor, Room number 132.


    Felix stood in front of the mirror after taking a fresh morning bath.


    He was naked, with only a ck earring attached to his left ear.


    As he touched it with his fingers, he muttered confusingly.


    "I still can''t figure out where this came from...."


    The earring had mysteriously appeared on his ear after he had woken up from his unconscious state, the day he went on a mission with Noah and the kids.


    Except for them, he didn''t think anyone else knew where the earring came from.


    But the kids were prohibited by their families froming to the guild anymore due to the tense situation of the guild wars, so he couldn''t ask them about it.


    "Even the skill shback doesn''t work on it, as if the earring didn''t have any past.", Felix sighed and turned to look at his reflection.


    "Well, let''s forget about it. Right now, there''s more important things to handle."


    Felix stopped admiring his handsome face and shredded body, and opened the wardrobe filled with a bunch of clothes and bags.


    "A new outfit, huh? I should look the best when going to war.", he smirked and started searching for the bestbination of a battle outfit.


    After ten minutes, he stood back in front of the mirror, with his sword on his waist and all the other equipment in a little shoulder strap bag.


    Felix wore a dark red battle dress with golden linings, which tightly covered his entire body except for his head, hands, and feets.


    A ck hooded cloak clung onto his body atop that, reaching till his ankles.


    As he moved around in his new outfit, he nodded at its flexibility andfort.


    "This looks badass. I hope my opponents won''t surrender just at the sight at me.....ugh that was a bit too much, I guess..."


    Scratching his cheek, Felix made sure he didn''t leave anything behind and walked out of his room.


    In the corridor, people rushed here and there as it was already 8:30 am.


    There was only half an hour left before they left for the guild wars.


    Felix nodded at a few people on the way and knocked on Steve''s door.


    "Hey, open up. Let''s go have breakfast."


    There wasn''t a response, so he knocked a few more times again, but still the door didn''t open.


    A fellow guildmate walking about saw him and informed.


    "Oh, if you''re looking for Steve, then he''s already at the dining hall.", the man''s eyes lit up as he continued.


    "Wait, you''re his friend, right?"


    Felix stopped knocking and nodded.


    "Yeah, we''re friends and also teammates."


    The man pped his hands and started pulling Felix towards the dining hall.


    "That''s great. We can''t waste time anymore. Only you can stop that stupid troublemaker!"


    Felix raised his brows, wondering what kind of mess Steve was doing.


    When the man pulled him all the way inside the dining hall, Felix saw a crowd surrounding a table, but he couldn''t see what was happening there.


    "Come on, you must stop that insane idiot."


    The man beckoned him as he made a way amidst the crowd.


    When Felix finally reached beside the table, he saw Steve stuffing food in his mouth even though his stomach was erged like a balloon.


    Some people cheered at him, while some were telling him to stop.


    But the boy acted as if he was on an important mission and continued eating more and more.


    "Wh...What the hell is he doing?", Felix asked speechlessly to the man.


    The man shrugged helplessly as he replied.


    "I don''t really know. He said he was preparing for the guild wars and wanted to be in his fittest form."


    ".....that''s crazy.", Felix rubbed his forehead, getting tired when it was only the morning of the great day.


    "You better take care of him quickly. He''s going to explode at this rate.", the man chuckled.


    Felix nodded and walked near to Steve before grabbing both of his hands.


    The boy who had his mouth filled with food turned sideways with a displeased expression.


    "Let go of m-", he paused when he saw his friend''s exhausted face.


    "What the hell are you doing, Steve?"


    The boy quickly gobbled down the food in his mouth and smiled invitingly.


    "Felix, you''re here! Quick, let''s finish off all this free food. We won''t get a better chance."


    Letting go of Steve''s hands, Felix asked weirdly.


    "Eating is fine, but why are you literally stuffing so much of food? Can your stomach even handle that?"


    Steve made a confused face, when realisation hit him as he answered while nodding.


    "Oh, so you mean it like that. Well, how should I say it...", he stuttered before finding the right words.


    "You know we''ll be going to war now, and there''s a chance that we may not survive....", he looked at the food on the table, "So, wouldn''t this be ourst free meal here? It would be a loss if we didn''t get the most out of it."


    Felix nced deeply at Steve, understanding what he was trying to say and the worries that he tried to hide.


    Giving a slight smile, he ignored the crowd around them and sat at the table, grabbing any food and gobbling them up.


    "You know what? I think you''re right.", Felix replied as he started digging in.


    "We shouldn''t waste all this damn free food."


    Steve chuckled as he looked at his friend and turned back to devouring what was in front of them.


    The man who had called Felix to stop the troublesome Steve rubbed his forehead, sighing as he shook his head.


    "Oh well, it seems like they''re both the same."


    *****


    Half an hourter....


    In the Guild Building Main Hall.


    One by one, everyone started gathering there as the ce started to get crowded.


    Wearing strong armors and grabbing onto their equipment, every guild member in the building except for the servants arrived in the main hall.


    Felix and Steve, who had their bellies filled to the brim, were joined by Roven and Eric as they stood at a corner.


    "Finally, it''s happening...", Roven muttured as he nced around the hall.


    The other three nodded and took deep breaths, rxing their nervousness.


    As the guild members muttured amongst themselves, a group of people walked down the stairs, which made everyone turn silent.


    Dante Grimsby, their guild leader, led the group as he stopped a few steps above the stairs.


    ncing around the main hall, he smiled in satisfaction as he saw that almost everyone was present.


    "Ahem- Good morning, fes. I hope you slept well.", he started.


    "Today is the day. The day in which fate has something in store for us. Now...."


    Keeping quiet for a few seconds, he asked.


    "What do you''ll think this something is?"


    Everybody turned around to look at each other, confusion evident on their faces as they didn''t know what fate had for them.


    Dante smiled, pointing at them.


    "That''s it! You don''t know. Nobody does. Even I don''t know what fate we may have in the war that''s going to start today."


    Many frowned at this, wondering if they might die or survive this war, but they kept quiet and listened as Dante continued.


    "And you know what? It''s alright, that''s the way it goes in life. We never know what fate has in store for us.", he gave a shrug.


    "A walk around the city may kill us, but an adventure into the dangerous forest may lead us to many treasures. We can not say anything about the future, it''s just....uncertain."


    Felix stared at Dante, his eyes narrowing as the man''s words started many thoughts in his mind.


    Dante closed his eyes for a second and then opened them back, as a sharp gleam lit up inside them.


    "Does that mean we should let fate decide things for us? For us to be the ves of destiny and wait for our end?!!", he asked loudly.


    Everyone took a gulp, feeling their hearts thumping faster as their faces flushed in adrenaline.


    "NO! THAT''S WRONG!!", Dante shouted himself.


    As his eyes roamed the hall, he clenched his fists and said.


    "We fight! We resist! And the most important....We never give up."


    Spreading his arms towards everyone, he turned serious.


    "And today.....WE''LL WIN!"


    As if a fire lighting up the entire forest, the guild members in the main hall roared.


    "WE FIGHT! WE WIN!!"


    "WE FIGHT! WE WINN!!"


    "WE WIN!! WE WIN!!"


    Dante gave a big smile, walking into the middle of the crowd along with his group as the people gave them way.


    Felix and his teammates looked at each other, their faces turning confident and determined as they smiled in excitement.


    The guild leader, Dante Grimsby, walked towards the main door and slowly opened both of them as the cheers of the crowd reached outside, gaining the public''s attention.


    People on the streets nced at their guild''spound, widening their eyes in shock when they saw a battle ready crowd of people shouting slogans of victory.


    Dante and his group boarded a carriage, leading the crowd of guild members, some of whom boarded several carriages, too.


    But most of them remained on foot, as they didn''t want to rx on the way.


    Felix and Steve, who got their tummies full of food a few minutes ago, found it difficult to walk and keep up with the crowd.


    "Shit! Why didn''t I think of this? It''s all your fault Steve...", Felixined as he held his stomach and struggled to walk.


    Steve was having it worse as he held his back and leaned on an angry Eric, who regretted being in the same team as these guys.


    "Damn it, who knew free food would give us so much trouble.", Steve muttured in pain.


    Eric harrumphed, ncing at the two with disdain and mocked.


    "Don''t you guys know? There''s nothing free in this world. Everything costs something. And your stupidity may cost you your lives."


    Felix patted Steve''s shoulder and shook his head, stopping the boy from opening his mouth to start bickering.


    "Leave him be, he''s not wrong. By the way guys, where did Roven go?", he asked in confusion as he nced around.


    Steve and Eric looked around too, but couldn''t find their team leader.


    "Hmm? I''m sure he was with us when we left the guild building though...", Eric muttured as they stepped out onto the streets where the public were looking at them in awe and respect.


    "Neighh!!"


    Two horses strutted over from behind, pulling along a carriage that the three remembered from their previous mission.


    Roven reined the carriage, sitting at the front as he smiled at their surprised faces.


    "Hop on, guys. Our ride is here."


    Without wasting a second, Steve and Felix jumped onto the carriage, patting Roven''s shoulder as they gave him a thumbs up and went to the back.


    "You''re a life saver.", Felix thanked.


    "If there ever was an election for something, I would vote for you.", Steve too....thanked.


    Eric sighed in relief as he rubbed his sore arms from holding Steve, and jumped onto the carriage too, taking a seat beside Steve.


    Other guild members around them looked at the carriage and asked for a seat before Roven kindly nodded and picked them all up till the carriage got filled.


    "Let''s get going, to the guild wars!!"


    Steve cheered from the back, and Roven moved forward the carriage, leading it along the crowd.


    With their destination to the Duke''s Castle in the centre of the Edenmont City, where the war among eight guilds and many things of the unknown would take ce.


    =====


    =====


    Ps:


    Felix will be going to create lot of skills and if you want one of your choice of skill to be there, then join the discod server and share it there in the skills channel.

 Chapter 139: The Guilds Gathered.

    As the fleet of guild members from the Twilight Chaos Guild marched under the awestruck gazes of the public of Edenmont City, they arrived at their destination after 20 minutes.


    Duke Ryeagon Family Castle.


    Arge area situated in the central part of the city, with a huge white castle with symbols and banners of the Ryeagon Family in the middle, and several other facilities like stables, a beautiful garden etc.


    The fleet of members from the Twilight Chaos guild entered the castlepound through the southern gates of the walls.


    The four boys, Felix and his teammates watched their surroundings in wonder as the ce looked so beautiful, clean and majestic.


    There were tall pointed towers at many corners of thepound, with strictly standing guards throughout the path who wore dark blue-coloured armour on them.


    The fleet advanced through the path guided by the butlers who hade to attend to them.


    They continued on the long road inside thepound before arriving at an enormous field where they could see arge crowd gathered there.


    The gs of an evil eye symbol on a moon that they were raising, which represented the Twilight Chaos guild, was seen by the crowd as a person announced loudly.


    "The Twilight Chaos Guild has arrived!!"


    Everyone turned their heads to look at the new arrivals, their expressions that of curiosity and palpation to see the mysterious guild that was now the talk of the town.


    Felix stared at the many gs and banners that were raised among the crowd of people,  deducting them to be the other guilds that had already arrived.


    The fleet stopped when they reached a ce given to station for their guild, as Dante the guild leader walked out of his carriage.


    He raised his head proudly and cast a sharper gaze on his surroundings, giving special attention to the ones that he knew would cause trouble to his guild.


    The enemy guilds in the crowd had also noticed them, almost as if they were waiting for them to arrive.


    While the other guilds hade here to spectate, and some others with their own motives too.


    From the crowd of thousands of people, he could say that around twenty of the guilds from Edenmont City were present here.


    ''So you''re all just going to enjoy the show even when they''ve shown their true faces?'', Dante thought as he scoffed.


    A small group of people from the crowd made their way towards his guild, a face among them which made him smile friendly.


    "Hey there Rhodes, how was our grand entrance?", he asked as he stepped ahead to meet with his old buddy.


    The Leader of the Mystic Society Guild, Rhodes Astralyn, who studied together with Dante at the same academy sighed as he shook his head.


    "You''re still as lively as ever, Dante. Makes me wonder how you even manage your guild."


    Rhodes was a tall man with light blonde hair, he had a sharp nose with emerald eyes on his cleanly shaved face.


    Wearing a brown suit with a cape fluttering behind on his shoulders, he looked at his only allies that would take part in today''s war.


    He could see from the eyes of the members of the Twilight Chaos guild that they were determined and ready to face this war, unlike a few from his guild who were still hesitant.


    Dante shrugged at the man as he pointed at his subordinates.


    "You know me. My capable men do not need my instructions to carry out their duties. So I''m pretty much jobless these few days.", he chuckled but then turned serious all of a sudden.


    "By the way...are they still not here?", there was a tone of disgust in his voice which he didn''t hide in front of his friend.


    Rhodes too twisted his face, before ncing at the crowd behind where people were starting to get restless.


    "They''re taking their time. Most likely wanting the people to start a fight here so they can intervene and then show their power."


    Dante and Rhodes talked amongst themselves, their voices turning lower as the rest of the guild members started organising themselves orderly under the executives.


    Felix was looking around the ce curiously, as this was the first time he hade across the other guilds, not considering that time at the abandoned factory.


    Most of the guilds from Edenmont City were present here, their symbolic gs giving him an idea of who they were.


    ''Hmm those must be Mad Wolves Guild, and that one should be Grey Talons Guild...oh and what''s that red sun-like symbol? Crimson Dawn Guild maybe?''


    As he eyed the gs and the people around them, he looked at the group that had walked towards their guild.


    ''Hmm wait....I''ve seen that girl...''


    Behind the man talking with their guild leader, a girl with waist-length purple hair stood quietly as she looked at them.


    Felix narrowed his eyes trying to remember and then finally recalled where he had seen her.


    ''Isn''t that the girl who punched me outside that clothing shop?'', he grimaced when he remembered unconsciously calling her ''beautiful'', only for him to get a hit.


    Shaking his head, he thought that she wasn''t the approachable type but her appearance was sure very attractive.


    ''I''ve never seen anyone like her in my life...''


    He could start singing praises of her beauty if given the chance, but the situation was a bit too serious for him to do that.


    "Hey, look at that girl.", Eric''s sudden voice interrupted his thoughts as he continued in a poetic tone as if the situation wasn''t that serious.


    "She''s like an angel descended from the heavens, to save us humans from mindless fights. Oh, what a creation, it makes me feel that living is such a bliss."


    His words cringed the hell out of the people around him, but everyone was more surprised that the quiet Eric had spoken such lines.


    Felix twitched his lips as he recalled seeing Eric reading romance books in the dining hall.


    ''Who knew this guy was a simp? Today really is an eventful day...''


    He didn''t say anything to the boy, but Steve on the other hand wasn''t feeling the same way.


    "What the hell dude?! Are you really the Eric that I know? What happened to our fireball boy? Are you falling in love or something!?"


    The guildmates around chuckled at his words, making Eric blush as he harrumphed.


    "What do you know, Steve? You''re just a kid. You won''t understand things like these, only adults can."


    Steve seemed to have been irked by that for some reason, as he folded his sleeves and made his way to the girl.


    "You look down on me? I''ll tell her that you like her then."


    Eric widened his eyes in panic, quickly chasing after Steve to not let things go out of hand.


    Felix raised a brow at the scene, eager to see how this would transpire.


    Just when Steve had cooked up a pretty good idea, ording to him that is, and was about to begin, Roven grabbed onto his hand to stop him and sighed.


    "Come on now, when will you guys stop this? Can you never be a bit serious in your life? Also, why are you just spectating, Felix? You should be stopping these idiots."


    Steve was about to say something but the look on Roven''s face made him pause, while Eric patted his chest in relief.


    "You can''t me me, Roven. I''ve no experience with women. These two are older than me, so I thought they knew what they were doing.", Felix shrugged with a helpless smile.


    Roven scoffed as if he had heard something unbelievable and pointed at the two troublemakers.


    "You mean these two?", he looked at Steve and Eric with an irritated wide-eyed stare, "I know them very well, and I can tell you that they never know what they''re doing."


    He turned to Felix and continued.


    "So, whenever you see them doing something, thinking that they know what they''re doing. Please just stop them."


    "Because that''s when they cause trouble.", Roven had this disappointed look in his eyes as Steve and Eric looked away towards the sky whistling.


    Felix honestly didn''t know what to say as he nodded speechlessly.


    "Umm I got it, Roven. I''ll do as you say next time."


    Roven had a tired face as he walked away muttering under his breath.


    "Sigh...I just hope there''s not a next time."


    The guildmates watching them dispersed to do their work, a bit sad that they didn''t get to see any drama.


    Felix patted Steve and Eric on their shoulders with a serious look.


    "Let''s make trouble some other time, okay? Look over there. Everyone''s watching us.", he pointed at the crowd of other guilds.


    They could see their enemies consisting of the six guilds, who were standing grouped together, all of whom had their eyes turned towards them.


    The people of the Mystic Society Guild were also moving towards them, making the two sides stay a little away from each other.


    The rest of the neutral guilds stood on the left side as these two groups faced each other in the middle of therge field.


    There was a stark difference in numbers if one looked at both the groups, but the smaller group didn''t seem to back down as they stood with their heads up high.


    "Oh hell man, is this it? Are we going to fight now?", Steve gripped his sword as his face turned reddish in excitement.


    Roven shook his head as he gestured to the right side where another group of people were making their way slowly and calmly.


    "It hasn''t started yet."


    Everyone in the crowd noticed the people wearing armor and uniforms, following behind a man with an imposing figure.


    "Sir Theodore, the Duke is here! The Ryeagon Family has made their presence!", announced a man loudly as the crowd turned serious.


    Dante and Rhodes looked at the Duke with a sharp gaze in their eyes, as they were one of the few who knew the real nature of this man.


    The Duke Theodore Ryeagon of Edenmont City was a buff man with brown hair and a thick beard, he had arge smile on his face as he walked over with his hands behind his back.


    A few of his family members stood behind him, with arge number of escorts and guards that dispersed throughout the field.


    Theodore led his people and stood on the right side of the field, facing the two groups who would bepeting against each other.


    "Greetings, brave citizens of the Edenmont City and from the respective guilds. Today, I, Theodore Ryeagon will announce to you the start of the guild wars between these two groups."


    Silence took over the ce as everyone turned their heads to look at the Duke.


    Theodore smiled with a confident pose, an undercurrent of emotions going through his deep eyes as he nced at the crowd.

 Chapter 140: Type Of Guild War.

    As the people gathered in the Duke Castle Grounds stared at the imposing man with curiosity and anticipation, Theodore Ryeagon continued his speech.


    "Today marks the first day of the guild wars. On the right side, we have the Crimson Dawn, Fanged Legions, Mad Wolves, Grey Talons, Raven Shields and the re Sky Guilds."


    "Who havee together to face off against the two guilds on the left side, Mystic Society and Twilight Choas."


    He deeply eyed the leaders of the eight guilds who stood forward from the rest and narrowed his eyes as he stated loudly.


    "With the rules set by his majesty, King Balthazar Draken, the mighty ruler of the Drakovia Kingdom. I hereby announce that the guild wars will be of the type of Dungeon Defence War!! Taking ce in the Edenmont Dungeon!!"


    His words spread throughout the field, garnering surprise and shock amongst the crowd of thousands of people.


    "What?! The war will take ce in the Edenmont Dungeon?!"


    "Wasn''t that ce sealed off a few years ago?"


    "What''s the meaning of this?! Do they want us to all die?!"


    A series of questions and exmations were raised from all the corners of the ce, as many people found it hard to control their emotions.


    Rhodes muttered as he made a sarcastic smile on his face.


    "They really think sending us to the Dungeon will be enough to decrease our numbers."


    Dante on the other hand frowned in confusion, the dots in his mind slowly moving together.


    "I don''t think it''s that simple. Theodore wouldn''t make such a hasty and open move. Not if they aren''t involved in this...."


    Behind them, Felix asked his teammates with a curious face.


    "Edenmont Dungeon? There''s a dungeon in this city? Hey Roven, can you tell me more about it?"


    He knew about the dungeons and their information from a book he had read in the forbidden library, but it was the first time he heard there was one in Edenmont City.


    Roven simrly had a shocked face when he heard the announcement, but he nevertheless exined it.


    "Well, it''s not strange that you don''t know about it. The thing is....."


    Dungeons were a separate realm of the world with their own ecosystem and life, attached to the main world like bubbles and had entrances at specific ces.


    They were also the primary reason why ces like Edenmont City and the others were chosen as one of the Nine Great Cities including the Royal Capital, each having their dungeons.


    Dungeons were divided into five tiers, based on their size and danger, they were called: Mini-Dungeon, City Dungeon, Realm Dungeon, Abyss Dungeon and Void Dungeon.


    The dungeon found in Edenmont City was the city-size Dungeon, named after the city like most others.


    But the dungeon present in the Royal Capital was of a higher tier, a Realm Dungeon.


    A few years ago, the Edenmont Dungeon was closed off from any activities by the Duke Family due to unknown reasons, causing much hostility among the guilds who were often travellers of the dungeon for resources and experience.


    But the Council of Guilds failed to revoke the order, thus refusing them any ess to the dungeon from then on.


    Today, the Duke announcing that the guild war would take ce in the dungeon brought forward lots of questions and exmations.


    Theodore remained calm under the slightly aggressive nature of the crowd, his eyes making contact with a hooded man at the far back of the crowd.


    The hooded man gave a small nod and turned around, swiftly moving through the crowd and disappearing out of the castlepound.


    "Alright,dies and gentlemen. As the venue for the guild wars has already been decided, let me exin to you the rules of it."


    No matter how much restless the crowd was, they turned back quite as they wanted to hear the rules.


    "The Dungeon Defence War will be having two groups participating, both of whom will be given an area to station and start in the dungeon."


    "One guild g of each guild will be ced at a high point in their area. The moment when one of the groups acquires all the eight gs of the eight guilds together, it will result in that group winning. And that will depict the end of the guild wars."


    "The losing guilds will lose everything they own to the winning guilds, and will be exiled out of the Edenmont City."


    Silence spread across the field as everyone took a few seconds to understand if what they heard was true.


    The guild leaders of all the guilds had a surprised expression on their faces, but it turned into gleeful smiles and frowns as they realised what that could mean to them.


    "This is too much, Dante! They''re even eyeing all our properties and treasures, not to mention when we''re at such a disadvantage. How greedy of them!", Rhodes argued as he clenched his fists in anger.


    Meanwhile, Dante''s frown turned into a look of hope as he grabbed his chin.


    "No. Wait...This can be a good chance for us."


    "Chance? How do think this is a chance for us when they''ll take our everything if we lose?", Rhodes was confused as he questioned.


    "I''m not talking about that part. I''m talking about the rules for the Dungeon Defence War.", Dante''s lips curled up slowly as he mentioned.


    "The biggest headache we had was about the difference in numbers in our groups. But if the guild war is a type of acquire and protect one, then with a good strategy we can win this war."


    Rhodes understood what Dante was trying to say as he nodded with a sigh.


    "You''re always so positive, Dante. Even when we don''t have any odds in our favour, you''re still thinking of a way to win. While me..", Rhodes gave a forced smile,"I''m worried about losing here...."


    Dante patted the man on his shoulder and shook his head with a deep smile.


    "No, Rhodes. You are the man. The only man among all of them from the Council of Guilds who stood up to go against what they were proposing."


    "You were the only one who understood what I was saying and nevertheless chose to side with me when nobody did, even as far as making so many enemies for it."


    Dante looked at Rhodes as he took a deep breath.


    "I know you didn''t do that just because you''re my friend, I know you well for that. You did it for your guild and for this city. So, it''s very normal for you to be scared of losing."


    Turning to look behind him at his guild members, Dante stared at them for a few seconds as he chuckled.


    "Even I''m terrified of losing the people behind me. The ones who follow me for who I am. But that only makes me strive to fight for them more, and now, we both will be facing this together with our guilds. Are you with me, Rhodes?"


    Dante gave the man his closed fist, a very yful smile on his lips.


    Rhodes shook his head before connecting the fist bump as he chuckled.


    "Hah! Shit''s about to get real if you smile like that."


    The Duke''s words made everyone understand the rules of the guild wars, many of whom found it pretty simple and effective to conduct it this way.


    Felix had a look of contemtion as he remembered what Mr.Dealer had said to him regarding the guild wars.


    ''This must be it. Mr.Dealer said that the dark guilds and the Duke had made a deal, where the dark guilds would refrain from harming the city if the Duke followed their orders regarding the guild wars.''


    ''He didn''t know what the purpose of the dark guilds in this guild wars was, but he was sure that they would meddle in it.''


    Felix bit his lip as he stared at the Duke in front of the crowd and calcted in his mind.


    ''The reopening of the dungeon, the dark guilds intervention, a total of eight guilds involved, this type of dungeon defence guild wars and the final decision for the winners and the losers...''


    ''.....It''s all connected. There''s a very thorough nning here from what I can sense.''


    Felix sighed at the turn of so many events, he didn''t know what was right or wrong, what were the truths and lies.


    But what he knew was...


    ''There''s going to be a lot of skill points for me to harvest in this guild wars, that''s a fact.''


    A crazy smile threatened to widen on his face, but he made sure to hide it from scaring the already panicked Steve beside him.


    "Is that man for real?! The winner takes them all? Even Miss Elsa''s under-"


    Felix and Eric were quick to cover the boy''s mouth from uttering his next words, with Roven turning around with a curious face.


    "You said something about my sister, Steve?"


    The two of them let go of him as Felix pinched his back and whispered into his ear.


    "Will you die if you close that mouth of yours for a moment?"


    Steve groaned in pain as he waved his hand at Roven with a wry smile.


    "It was nothing. I was just saying the rules are simple yet harsh for us."


    Roven nodded as he frowned seriously.


    "I agree. There are only two guilds on our side, meaning we''ll only have two gs while they''ll have eight. They also have more numbers than us. It''s aplete disadvantage for us."


    Felix shrugged as he pointed out something that they didn''t notice.


    "Don''t you think this is much better than doing a battle royale type or a one-on-onepetition? We''ll be entering a huge dungeon, and if we make a proper n by using the surroundings and the terrain, then it wouldn''t be impossible to win."


    His words made them nod as they realised the dungeon defence type of guild wars wasn''t that bad for them.


    Eric had an impressed face as he muttered.


    "Didn''t know you were the smart type."


    Steve folded his arms and chuckled.


    "Nah, what he said was simple. It''s just you who''s dumb to even understand that."


    "What''d you say? Huh?!", Eric gritted his teeth as he angrily stepped forward.


    "Oh, you couldn''t hear? I said you''re pretty du-"


    Steve got smacked on the head before he could continue by Felix, who pointed to the front.


    "The Duke''s saying something...."


    Steve and Eric could only harrumph at each other before listening to the man as Roven nodded at Felix gratefully.


    "Keep it up, Felix. You can change them."


    Felix waved off his hand as he replied.


    "As long as they''re not annoying me."


    Roven couldn''t help but sigh at his words, as he thought at least there was another person in the team who''d help him contain the troublemakers.


    ''He''s the bigger yet the silent troublemaker of them all....''


    Roven felt like crying at the hardships he had to suffer at such a young age, but he nevertheless opened his ears to listen to the Duke''s words.


    "My men have already opened two gates leading to the edges of the Edenmont Dungeon. I request the two groups to walk towards the gate''s path shown by the guides."


    "Ladies and Gentlemen, now without further waiting, let us begin the Guild Wars!!"

 Chapter 141: The Show Begins.

    The Mystic Society Guild and the Twilight Chaos Guild grouped together and moved towards the dungeon gate that was opened for them.


    The other group consisting of the six guilds walked to the other gate while being apanied by the Duke who happily talked with them.


    "You must''ve got a good deal there right, Vincent? There''s also this one hell of an easy war...", Theodoreughed as he looked at a serious-faced man.


    The man in question was Vincent Frawley, the guild leader of the Crimson Dawn Guild, who was also the temporary head of the Six Guilds Alliance.


    He was a tall man with a muscr frame and broad shoulders, his grey hair on his head and his thin eyebrows along with his sharp eyes made him look serious-faced every time.


    "And how does that concern you, Sir Duke? I''m sure we''ve all got something. As for this war? It''ll be quick, I promise.", Vincent replied without a change on his face.


    Theodore couldn''t help but chuckle, there was this confidence that the man oozed as if whatever was happening was all under his calctions.


    "Well, I suppose that does assure me. But don''t underestimate them, as you hardly know anything about him..."


    Vincent paused as he narrowed his eyes and asked nkly.


    "And whom do you refer by him?"


    Theodore frowned in seriousness, his eyes looking at Vincent with a bit of...fear.


    "Dante Grimsby."


    *****


    A round-shaped portal of blue and green colours stood in front of the two guilds as they reached the gate of the dungeon from where they would enter.


    The old butler who guided them through the path of the castlepound gave the two leaders a nod as he said.


    "This is the way, Sirs. You can enter the dungeon any time you want, but I would suggest you do so at the earliest. The gate will be closed after everyone enters and will only be opened when the guild war has ended "


    Rhodes smiled at the man as he replied.


    "Thank you. You can leave for now, we''ll enter when we see it right."


    The butler nodded with a shrug and walked away, leaving the members of the two guilds who stood unmoving at the ce.


    A man with a worried face stepped forward from behind and asked quietly.


    "Sir Rhodes, are we sure about doing this? There''s a high chance we''ll be all killed in this guild war. There''s even Young Miss Selena who''s going to take part in it..."


    Turning to the man, Rhodes made a guilty face as he shook his head.


    "We can''t back down now, Evan. As for Selena, you know she always insists oning when there''s action. There''s no stopping her."


    Evan, an executive member in the Mystic Society Guild who hade to stop the guild leader under the requests of several members, could only sigh at the turndown.


    "I...no..We....We''ll follow you no matter the danger, Sir. You have never let us down. And I''m sure this time will be the same."


    Rhodes patted the man on the shoulder, a confident smile growing on his face as he nodded at Dante by his side.


    "Don''t you worry. It''s not something we can''t handle."


    Dante turned his head around to nce at the people behind him and instructed a few men to bring forward the most durable guild g of theirs forward.


    Rhodes did the same as two thick and long gs representing their guilds were brought to the front, each in the hands of their respective guild leaders.


    "Let''s go in for now. We can discuss the n after we choose a ce as our base in the dungeon.", Dante said as he looked at the portal.


    Rhodes nodded as he raised his hand above his head and ordered.


    "Everyone! Prepare yourselves! We''re entering the Edenmont Dungeon!!"


    The hundreds of people behind them readied themselves, their faces expressing excitement, nervousness and several other emotions.


    Amidst them all, there were a pair of ruby-red eyes, glistening in sheer focus and eagerness as that of a predator waiting for its prey.


    ''It''s time I start the hunt.....''


    Under the two guild leader''s lead, the small crowd of people started entering the gates of the dungeon one by one.


    Before long, Felix and his teammates were engulfed by the greenish-blue portal, as they stepped into the Edenmont Dungeon, which had been kept untouched for more than a few years.


    *****


    The Ryeagon Castle Compound.


    Inside a building that was situated beside the main castle building.


    A man wearing elegant clothes was pacing back and forth in a room. He had brown hair and looked a bit on thenky side.


    There was a look of worry and anger on his face as he muttered repeatedly under his breath.


    "He shouldn''t have epted that....This is all wrong...Theodore is making a huge mistake.."


    The man who was anxiously muttering was the younger brother of the Duke, Howard Ryeagon.


    He was one of those in the Ryeagon family who were against the deal that the dark guilds had presented to them, but they couldn''t change the Duke''s choice who still epted it.


    "This is bad, the Edenmont City will be in chaos if we let this happen. No, Howard! You cannot let this happen. You must stop this."


    Howard was a man who loved being a man of power, and if something terrible happened to Edenmont City which his family ruled, then he''d have nothing left in this life of his.


    "There''s got to be a solution! Anything or anyone who would help me in this matter?


    Someone strong and willing to stop this. Even someone immoral and asks for a lot of money...."


    As his thoughts reached this point, he suddenly remembered the bunch of people living under the city, especially the man who loved to make deals.


    "Yes! Them! I''ll be able to solve this problem if they get involved. They''re all a bunch of stupid lowlifes but they must be swayed by money. I can make use of them. Even some dirty work can be done....."


    Howard had his eyes lit up, as several thoughts and ideas started to rise in his mind, making him smile cunningly.


    "Hehehe....I think this is going to make a lot of profit for me."


    The man patted his clothes and walked out of the room, ready to start his n as he called some of his subordinates.


    *****


    Outside the Edenmont City.


    Deep into the forest where there was a lonely and eery tent erected in the middle of nowhere.


    A man wearing a hat and a dusty ck cloak walked out from the tent as two other men followed behind closely.


    If Felix was here, he would recognise one of the two men standing behind the man with the hat, as he was the one who had once caught and locked him up inside the tent.


    The other man was wearing a dark mask on his face, his steps and presence were very lowpared to the other two.


    Cedric, the man who had caught Felix, smiled as the sunrays filtered through the leaves and fell on his face.


    "Ahh....today''s such a good day. I wonder how it feels like to kill someone in this weather.", there was a normal tone in his voice, as if there was nothing wrong with what he said.


    The man wearing the hat had an amused look on his face, as he chuckled while rubbing the ring on his finger.


    "Well, it seems luck isn''t on your side. Our mission starts only at midnight."


    Cedric rolled his eyes and then shrugged his shoulders as he replied.


    "Ugh...who cares, Edgar. You''re too old-fashioned. I''ll just murder someone for fun sake, it''s not like there''s anything wrong with that."


    The man named Edgar turned around slowly, as a terrifying aura pressed onto the two men making them break out in cold sweat.


    "I won''t repeat myself. The mission starts at midnight. There must be no mistakes, or there will be...consequences."


    Cedric and the masked man gulped under their breath, before nodding at him as they remembered the things that the man was capable of doing.


    But nevertheless, as people with evil in their hearts, there was no way they would just follow somebody''s orders, no matter who they were.


    "Let''s walk. We''ll take our time to reach Edenmont City. As their fall is imminent anyways."


    Edgar moved onwards with his hands behind his back, his lips curling up at the thoughts of what was stored there for him at the destination.


    ''This is going to be my chance. A chance to get what I truly deserve...''


    Cedric and the masked man followed behind him, with arge crowd of people wearing cloaks and stepping out of the tent one by one.


    There was an endless number of people making a long line in the forest, all of whom moved in order towards the direction of Edenmont City.


    The monsters living in the forest ran away the moment they saw them, as the aura they were emitting could make anyone fall onto their knees.


    The Dark Guilds, or at least a part of them, had finally decided to show their faces to the city that they had been eyeing for so long.

 Chapter 142: The Dungeon.

    Felix opened his eyes after walking into the dungeon portal.


    A few magical artifacts were floating about the ce emitting light, illuminating the surrounding enclosed space which was dark and damp.


    "We''re inside of a cave?", he asked as he stepped forward along with his other teammates.


    Roven nodded seriously and mentioned.


    "The Edenmont Dungeon is a cavern-type dungeon, filled with tunnels and chambers, with monsters like Basilisks, Cave Spiders, Trolls and others."


    There was a look of trepidation on Roven''s face as he whispered.


    "There''s even a rumor of a dragon living deep inside the dungeon, but no one has ever encountered it...."


    The three boys were shocked at his words, before they showed different emotions.


    "Are you for real?! A Dragon? I can''t wait to see one!"


    "I just hope we don''t disturb it."


    "A dragon, huh? I wonder how powerful it is..."


    Roven sighed as he shook his head at his teammates'' replies, as the rest of the members from the two guilds had all entered the dungeon.


    Dante pped his hands twice to get everyone''s attention as he exined after discussing a bit with Rhodes.


    "Listen up, folks. This ce is too small for us to select it as our area, where we may be living for a few days. So we''ll have to form some scouting teams to find a much better area suitable to use as our camp, while the rest of the people here will organise our avable resources and other ns."


    He pointed at the many tunnels found around the ce they were at and continued.


    "There''s a total of 5 tunnels leading to different directions from here, so we''ll select members from both the guilds to form five scouting teams, led by executives of course. Nobody''s forced, but we''ll appreciate volunteers."


    This was what both the guild leaders had decided as their first step in this dungeon defence guild war.


    Finding a better area to build their base and creating mixed-up guild teams to make them bond with each other.


    It wouldn''t make sense for two not-so-familiar guilds to act like allies when only the guild leaders were friends.


    Unity yed an important role when banding together against a single enemy.


    Dante''s words made the people nod as they agreed to it.


    A hand amongst the crowd was raised quickly before anyone else, making the nearby people look at the silver-haired young man who had a small smile at the corner of his lips.


    ''Here Ie, skill points! This is the exact thing I was wishing for!''


    A creepy and wild aura exuded from Felix, which made the people around him take a step back from fear.


    Dante noticed the young man who was raising his hand.


    ''Silver hair and red eyes? I guess that''s the boy Elsa was talking about. But she seems to have misjudged him...'', he thought with a hidden grin,''....cuz he sure seems freaky.''


    "F...Felix, are you serious? It''s better if you stay here, you know. It''s dangerous out there.", Roven said in hopes of changing the boy''s mind.


    Felix shrugged as he replied half-heartedly.


    "The entire world is dangerous, Roven. In the end, no one escapes from it..."


    Roven didn''t understand what he meant by that, but he understood that the boy had made his decision firm.


    Quickly, he turned to the side and asked anxiously.


    "Steve, there''s no way you''re going too right? Remember what happenedst time!"


    The green-haired boy had a frown on his face, an unpleasant twist at his lips as he sighed.


    "Alright, I get it. I won''t go this time. Sorry, Felix. It seems you''ve to enjoy it alone.", there was clear frustration and helplessness in his eyes as he said so.


    ''I only have a limited amount of those potions, can''t go around wasting them...''


    Felix shrugged not minding him although it was a bit out of his character, while Roven sighed in relief and didn''t even care to ask Eric the same question.


    Seeing that an unknown boy had volunteered to take part in such a dangerous task, several other members from both guilds raised their hands bravely.


    Even the quiet girl with purple hair, Selena Astralyn, decided to join them as she eyed the silver-haired boy strangely.


    ''Isn''t that the guy I punched some weeks ago?'', she remembered him for his unique appearance and boldness to flirt with her in broad daylight.


    ''Hmm, so he wasn''t just some random gigolo...''


    At the sudden change in the atmosphere with everyone being active, Dante and Rhodes nodded at each other with content smiles.


    "Alright, folks! Let''s get you all sorted in five teams now.", Dante shouted as he looked at the dozens of people, who had their eyes burning with emotions.


    Roven watched in a dilemma as Felix and the others stepped out of the crowd, his thoughts reaching a forced decision as he grits his teeth and turned to his other two teammates.


    "Steve, Eric! Take care of yourselves here. Don''t go making hasty decisions and always stick together! Got it?", he hurriedly ordered.


    Eric and Steve nodded instinctively at his sudden words as Eric asked in confusion.


    "But why are you suddenly saying this? Is something wrong?"


    Roven shook his head as he smiled wryly.


    "Nothing''s wrong. But as the team leader, I''ve to make sure nothing happens to you guys.", he nodded at them seriously as he started chasing behind Felix and waved.


    "Don''t fight or make trouble, okay? Stay close to Elsa if possible.", his words were drowned in the crowd as the two boys stared at each other awkwardly.


    "Umm....I sometimes think we don''t deserve a teamleader like him...", Steve muttured with an apologetic smile.


    Eric sighed as he agreed.


    "He could''ve achieved much more if he just left us behind."


    Steve turned as he raised the corners of his lips mockingly.


    "You mean left you behind, right? There''s nothing wrong with me. In fact, it''s me who''s keeping the team together, unlike someone who can only do fireballs!"


    Eric took a deep gulp as he resisted manipting the mana and sending dozens of fireballs at the green-haired boy.


    With a nerve erging on his forehead, he smiled at Steve as he held himself back.


    "Hahaha, you''re jokes are starting to sound so terrible, Steve. Wanna try getting your brain heated for it to cook up some better ones?"


    Steve raised both his brows at the reply and nodded to himself proudly.


    ''He''s getting better with those replies....Must''ve been my influence...''


    The two of them continued their harmless battle with their tongues, a small crowd naturally forming around them to find some amusement.


    On the other hand, Felix was surprised at Roven''s decision to join the scouting team, but he just smiled at him and appreciated the boy''s intentions.


    ''It''s rare for a teamleader to be so selfless...He''s basically going into danger for my sake.''


    As the two of them reached beside the other volunteers, Felix swore to protect Roven during the task.


    The n then began as everyone gathered around together, the talk mostly done by the higher-ups.


    Dante and Rhodes discussed with a few executives, before reaching a conclusion for the five teams based on the number of members, their strengths, intelligence, abilities and their original teammates.


    A minuteter, five of the Rank 3 Executives stepped forward and called out to their scouting team members.


    Evan, the man from the Mystic Guild who was chosen for his great scouting ability, called out a few names.


    "Felix, Roven, Leon, Verlin, Selena, Barry, Melissa.....", he named ten people in total who moved to his side at the mention of their names.


    Evan nodded at them with a determined face and introduced himself for the sake of Felix and others.


    "I''m Evan Befett, a Mid Rank 3 archer type warrior and an Executive of Mystic Society. The ten of you will be part of my scouting team. I want every one of you to work along well and follow my orders during the task, is that clear?"


    "Yes, Sir." x10


    The ten membersplied as Evan nodded in appreciation.


    "We''ve been allocated the leftmost tunnel to scout, so let''s get going. I want everyone to follow behind me, and not break formation unless deemed necessary."


    He informed them of some more rules as they started walking towards the leftmost tunnel.


    Roven and Felix stood beside each other and were about to talk when a cold hand grabbed onto both of their shoulders.


    "Wait a second, you both.", a seductive yet worried voice called out to them as they turned around at the familiar voice.


    "Sis?"


    "Miss Elsa?"


    Felix and Roven called out in confusion as Miss Elsa pouted at them with a slight frown.


    She was a bit shorter than them, so they had to lower their heads to meet her angry face


    "You both....sigh", she stopped herself from arguing and instead reminded them seriously.


    "Don''t act stupid there. It''s only scouting, so avoid fighting and confrontation. Also, make sure to follow Evan''s order. He''s a capable team leader....", she went on giving them warnings and instructions as if a mom teaching her kids how to do homework.


    Roven and Felix nodded at her rapidly, before finally replying to her when she seemed to have gotten tired of it.


    "We''ll remember that, Miss Elsa."


    "Don''t worry, Sis. We''ll be fine."


    Elsa red at Roven for calling her ''sis'' and nodded at Felix with a smile as they started walking away to the other team members who were waiting.


    "Don''t get into any more trouble, okay? Wait- I''ve said that so many times...", Elsa rubbed her forehead as she smiled helplessly.


    Seeing that the two of them had returned, Evan gestured to the team and led them onwards into the tunnel.


    "Let''s proceed!"


    The five scouting teams then disappeared into the dark tunnels, their figures slowly vanishing as the rest of the members from the two guilds busied themselves with other works.

 Chapter 143: Scouting Task.

    In the dark tunnel, Evan led the team as he lit up a light artifact which brightened their surroundings.


    He nced behind him to check on the others and gave them a suggestion.


    "You guys aren''t familiar with each other, right? So why don''t you all introduce yourselves? We''ll be able to cooperate well then. Tell your name, rank and profession. These three details are enough."


    Nobody rejected the suggestion, and starting from the person standing right behind Evan, everyone started introducing themselves.


    "I''m Leon Maurice, a Swordsman Warrior at Early Rank 2.", after him a few other people too introduced themselves until it was the purple-haired girl''s turn.


    "Selena Astralyn, I''m a Dual-type fighter at Late Rank 2. My main attribute element is metal.", she introduced calmly while gripping the broadsword at her waist.


    When Felix heard her words, he became astonished at everything she mentioned.


    ''Both a Warrior and a Mage? At the Late Rank 2 stage? How is she so powerful....Isn''t she around my age? Also metal is a rare attribute!''


    He, Roven and the other members from the Twilight Chaos who hadn''t heard of her before were surprised at her information.


    The people from Mystic Society, on the other hand, had a proud and respectful face.


    From what Felix had read in the Forbidden Library, there were five basic elements which were the easiest to manipte, Fire, Water, Earth, Air and Thunder.


    The five rare elements on the other hand were Dark, Light, Soul, Space and Time, and not many people had the talent to manipte them.


    Then came the sub-elements like Metal, Poison, Wood etc, but they were mostly derived from the basic elements and seen very rarely to be used.


    Hearing that the girl Selena was talented in manipting a rare element while also being at the Rank 2 stage, Felix couldn''t help but whisper to Roven.


    "Hey, who''s that girl? Isn''t she too strong for her age?"


    Roven nodded as he replied.


    "I''m not too sure, but if herst name is Astralyn. Then that can mean only one thing."


    "And what does that mean?", Felix didn''t know what that name meant.


    "It means that she''s the daughter of Rhodes Astralyn, the Guild Leader of Mystic Society."


    Felix widened his eyes in surprise at the information.


    ''So she''s a big shot!? Damn! Them kids with the silver spoons always get a better start than others....'', shaking his head in frustration, he stopped admiring her for her strength.


    After her introduction, a few others did the same before it was their turn.


    "My name is Roven Vonsarth, a Swordsman at the Peak Rank 1 stage."


    Then next came Felix as he calmly stated.


    "I''m Felix, a Dual-type fighter at Early Rank 1. My main attribute is Earth.", this was what he had decided to say after carefully considering for two reasons.


    First, he wouldn''t need to hide his powers now and if asked about it, he could just answer it ambiguously.


    Second, to gain the respect of his teammates so that he wouldn''t have to go through the trouble of them looking down on him and getting surprisedter kind of drama.


    He wasn''t a fan of ying weak, if there was a need for him to show his true power, he wouldn''t hesitate to do it.


    Unsurprisingly, the rest of the team was surprised to hear that there was another Dual-type fighter in the team, especially making the members from Twilight Chaos feel a bit proud.


    Selena gave a slight nce at Felix, her impression of him changing from before.


    Evan had a delighted look on his face as he nodded in appreciation.


    "This is good! Having two Dual-type fighters of Metal and Earth elements will strengthen our team with diversebat strategies."


    He took a few seconds to think before he continued with a serious face after some calctions.


    "Alright, now that you''ve all been introduced, let me give you proper instructions to follow for any of the situations that we''lle across...."


    For the next ten minutes, while the team traversed deeper into the dark tunnel, Evan briefed the ten members with some suggestions and directions to have better coordination together.


    Suddenly, he stopped walking and raised his hand to his lips with a hushed expression.


    He did a few hand symbols and the ten members understood that there was a group of monsters up ahead.


    Felix quietly turned on the map skill and turned to look into it.


    ''Hmm...it seems the map still works in the dungeon. But it''s not the same...''


    Instead of showing the map of the dungeon from up in the sky like an eagle''s eye perspective, which was obviously not possible in a cavern-type dungeon, the map showed basic routes and chambers in the form of illustrations.


    And on the map, Felix could see a bunch of red marks appearing in front of the team, just a few meters away from them.


    ''I wonder what kind of monsters they are...''


    It didn''t take long for him to get the answer as a few shadows slowly stepped forward into the visibility of their light artifacts.


    It was a group of lizard-like monsters, approximately 1.5 meters long and a meter tall, with hard brown coloured scales covering their thick bodies.


    "Those are Earth Lizards. Everyone get ready for battle!"


    Evan took a step back while taking out his bow and stated to the rest of the team.


    "We''ll face them ording to the group strategy I mentioned earlier. So don''t make any mistakes and remain in formation!"


    The ten of them nodded and quickly moved to their position to start the confrontation. About 20 of those monsters were present from what Felix could see on the map, all of them at Rank 1.


    ''Earth Lizards huh.....It''s my first time fighting monsters with that shape I guess.'', Felix thought amusingly as he used his Inspect on them and eyed them curiously.


    Among the eleven in the team, Evan was at Rank 3, there were three others including Selena at Rank 2, while the remaining seven including Felix and Roven were at Rank 1.


    The moment the eleven of them got ready, the Earth Lizards hissed with their tongues hungrily and arrived at their position, opening their jaws to attack.


    "Now! Attack!"


    At Evan''s order, everyone got into action as they brandished their weapons at the Earth Lizards in a formation.


    Felix wasn''t too fond of this set-up of maintaining positions, but he followed it unwillingly anyway and attacked the Earth Lizards that had entered his arm''s reach with his skills.


    "Earth Spikes!"


    Several sharp rocky spikes emerged under the underbelly of two lizards, where a few red lines were present in Felix''s eyes, and pierced into the only part of their body that wasn''t covered and protected by their scales.


    "Grwehkk!!"


    Blood sshed on the ground as the two lizards cried out in pain, their bodies kept firmly in ce as the earth spikes passed through to the top of their body.


    Felix shed towards the two lizards and took out his newly upgraded sword, stabbing into their heads while they struggled in pain.


    A slight twist in the stab at the end was all it took for the two Earth Lizards to die under his attacks.


    ''Well, that wasn''t much....''


    Felix turned to look at the others, who had also almost finished ending the battle with the monsters.


    Evan stood at the back right now with his bow, his presence not required to deal with such weak monsters, instead he was keeping an eye on the surroundings.


    But he nevertheless took in the scene of Felix easily handling the two Earth Lizards that were the same rank as him, a task most would find difficult.


    ''He''s a natural....Hmmm, a nice addition to the team with those earth-type spells.'', Evan thought to himself with a look of appreciation.


    After a few minutes, all of the twenty Earth Lizards had died and their corpses were moved to the side.


    Roven had defeated one of them on his own, their only weakness being at their underbelly proving to be a disadvantage to a swordsman such as him and a few others too.


    Felix on the other hand had watched the other Dual-type fighter in the team, Selena Astralyn, who killed three Earth Lizards on her own using a few metal-type spells.


    ''Hmmm she used spells that conjured metal chains and restricted their movements, then used her broadsword to chop off the monsters'' bodies....that''s brutal but also kind of my style...''


    Felix smirked as his gaze lingered on her broadsword, its size a bitrger than her thighs.


    ''It looks heavy...''


    Evan walked to the front of the formation as he pped his hands andplimented.


    "That was splendid, everyone. You guys worked well together. But this is just the start, we''ve to explore the dungeon more until any of the scouting teams find a good area. So don''t let down your guard any moment."


    After giving a few more instructions, Evan led the team forward as they stepped deeper into the tunnel.


    Felix on the other hand had finally decided on the next skill that he should create for himself, something he greatly needed in crowd fights and in a situation where he was surrounded, not taking escaping as the option.


    ''Alright! I''ll be needing this....''


    He thought as he ordered the system in his mind to create the skill he was thinking of.


    [Processing the skill''s power scale....grading the skill....estimating the possible points required.....skill sessfully moduled.]


    [Ding!]


    [Skill Name: Battlefield Awareness


    Description:


    An active skill that grants the user heightened perception and awareness duringbat, allowing them to analyze the battlefield with extraordinary rity.


    When activated, the user can instantly assess the positions, movements, and intentions of allbatants within a radius of 30 meters.


    This skill enhances the user''s reaction time, enabling them to anticipate enemy attacks and exploit weaknesses with precision. It also reduces the chance of being caught off guard by hidden threats or sudden changes in the battle.


    - The skill has a duration of 10 minutes and a cooldown time of 30 minutes.


    - Grants a 360-degree awareness of all active entities within a 30-meter radius.


    - Highlights enemy weak points and predicts their next moves.


    Cost: 400 skill points]


    [Do you wish to use 400 skill points and create the skill ''Battlefield Awareness?]


    Felix scanned through the given details of the skill, and though he felt the skill points cost a bit too much, the skill''s abilities made him nod.


    ''It looks good....With this I''ll be able to efficiently hunt more monsters than before.'', he agreed to create the skill without wasting any time.


    [Ding!]


    [Sessfully created a new skill!]


    The team had left the previous area and wandered into the tunnel carefully, treading in a formation while looking for their destination.


    At the moment, Felix very much wanted to test the new skill, but he didn''t want to activate it when there was no fight, so he turned on the map and curiously looked at it.


    ''Hmmm? What''s this?''


    Suddenly, from the corner of the map screen, arge number of red dots started appearing.


    The number of dots passed a hundred within seconds as Felix finally understood what was happening.


    "Uh oh...we gotpany...", a small grin slowly etched on his face as the rest of the team turned to him.

 Chapter 144: The Swarm.

    Feeling the dozens of eyes turning towards him in question, Felix turned serious and pointed towards the direction of the tunnel as he lied between his teeth.


    "I have a detection-type spell that allows me to identify any movements under the Earth. And I can feel more than hundreds of presence moving towards us right at this moment."


    He took a quick look at the map and gave them a calcted response not minding their shocked faces


    "Also, we''ll engage them in approximately....40 seconds now."


    The scouting team members took a few seconds to process what he said as they couldn''t believe or trust him.


    "What?"


    "No way!"


    Only Evan was the first one to react positively as he couldn''t handle the consequences of that happening even if he had doubts as same everyone.


    "This is bad!! Everyone! We don''t have any time left, so quickly follow the defence circle formation I mentioned earlier. Hurry! Don''t waste time!"


    As soon as he gave the order, the ten members of the team hurried to their positions.


    Three warriors of the team who could serve to tank the team stayed at the front of the formation with their shields up.


    Four damage dealers, swordsman, spearman and the like, Roven included, stood behind the three tanks, ready for action.


    The two dualists, Felix and Selena, along with the mage, Melissa, stayed at the centre of the formation as they started their spells.


    Evan, the only Rank 3 archer, stood at the rear with his bow raised as he eyed towards the front seriously.


    Standing in front of Felix, Roven turned around and asked quietly.


    "Hey, are you sure about this? I don''t mean to doubt you, but even Sir Evan, a Rank 3 warrior couldn''t detect something like that."


    He sighed as he clenched the sword in his hand tightly.


    "I hope we don''t encounter more monsters...but do you really think they''reing?"


    Felix looked at Roven with a look of guilt, as he could be facing danger because of his greed, but he soon became firm and nodded.


    "Don''t worry, Roven. I''ll make sure you won''t get hurt. As for the monsters...well sadly they''re already here now."


    A secondter, the earth beneath them trembled in sheer magnitude as sharp screeches echoed from their front.


    "Felix was right! Everyone! Prepare for battle!", Evan shouted as a number of creatures swarmed inside the tunnel.


    The monsters were all of the same type, looking like a spider with a round body supported by a dozen sharp legs, but their size was that of a human and they numbered more than a few hundred.


    "They''re the Deadly Spiders! And it seems there are more than a hundred of them!"


    Evan gritted his teeth and warned anxiously when he saw hundreds of Rank 1 monsters.


    "Listen here! Those monsters throw lethal acids from their mouth, so make sure to protect yourselves from it. Also, their weakness is their eyes and joints, target those parts! Now attack!!"


    At his orders, the front tankers rushed ahead to secure arge area and brought their huge shields forward, blocking the spider swarm from passing them in the narrow tunnel.


    "Mages now! Everybody duck!", Evan shouted as he started concentrating his power on his bow.


    Felix, Selena and Melissa, the three who were standing in the middle raised their hands as they cast their magic spells.


    "Earth Spikes!"


    "Metallic Rain!"


    "Wind des!"


    A series of magical attacks whistled past above the people ahead as they fell on the Deadly Spiders, in the form of steel rods andpression air shes.


    Meanwhile, the earth beneath the spiders protruded out as sharp spikes attacked them mercilessly.


    "Good! Now it''s my turn! Everyone! Hug the walls!!"


    As if they had prenned it all, the team members left their positions in a hurry and moved towards the walls of the tunnel, giving a curious nce at the Rank 3 man with the bow.


    Evan had a terrifying aura spreading around him as he pulled the string of his bow that didn''t contain any arrow.


    "Whoosh!!"


    Suddenly, an ethereal light started gathering as arge bright yellow arrow appeared on Evan''s bow, and with precise aim, he let go of the string.


    "Sunre Arrow!!"


    The bright arrow whizzed through the middle of the formation, moving at the speed of sound as it illuminated the entire tunnel and reached the swarm of spiders about 20 meters away.


    Boom!


    The huge arrow exploded into a torrent of hundreds of light rays above the spiders, which sharply rained down onto their bodies.


    "Holy shit!", Felix eximed as he saw dozens of Deadly Spiders dying in mere seconds from the single attack.


    There was arge gap in the monsters'' swarm now, but it was gradually getting filled by the rest of the spiders from behind.


    "Now it''s your turn assault warriors! Deal with them until I''m ready for another attack."


    Evan ordered as he took deep breaths and started concentrating on the next attack.


    "Yes, Sir!"


    The four damage dealers nodded and rushed ahead to fight the disoriented spiders, while the tanks helped them by taking the aggro.


    Felix took a gulp seeing them fight, his eyes eager to rush ahead, but his position was at the rear.


    "KREEIIKKHH!!"


    A sudden shriek of anger from the back of the swarm surprised the scouting team, as a spider two timesrger than the rest showed itself.


    "KREEIKHH!!"


    Behind it, a dozen more of the same size spider appeared one by one, some even climbing on the walls and the ceiling.


    Their huge figures allowed no more than four of them to move together in the tunnel, greatly reducing the amount of danger they could pose to the scouting team.


    "Those are Rank 2 Deadly Spiders! There''s more than ten of them, they can even move on the walls!"


    Evan informed rapidly as he changed the strategy and gave them a different order.


    "Fall back! Approach the Rank 2 Deadly Spiders in groups of three, every group having one Rank 2 and two Rank 1 fighters.


    I''ll take care of all the rest of Rank 1 Deadly Spiders with my arrows, while Melissa guards me. Hurry!!"


    After quickly giving a set of instructions, Evan turned his bow horizontally and started magically shooting three arrows at a time, each arrow shooting down a spider.


    The rest of the members quickly started forming groups of three, as Felix patted Roven''s shoulder and said.


    "We''ll fight together."


    Roven nodded with a smile.


    "dly."


    They turned to look at others for a Rank 2 fighter just to see Selena rushing off alone towards the Rank 2 spiders.


    "H-Hey, what''re you doing?!", Felix asked in surprise when she ran ahead alone.


    Evan saw her dashing ahead with her Broadsword and he shouted in slight anger.


    "What the hell! Selena! Fight in a team for once!"


    He was all too familiar with the girl''s fighting style, who thought battling against an enemy with a team was very inefficient and troublesome.


    She had already given her father a lot of headaches by always trying toplete missions all alone and refusing to be in any teams in their guild.


    Felix and Roven looked at the rest of the team members who had already formed groups of three and nodded at each other.


    "We should team up with her I guess...."


    "There''s no choice..."


    Turning around, they rushed behind the purple-haired girl Selena to catch up with her, while she had already conjured many metal chains and had started fighting therger Deadly Spiders.


    ''It''s time to use my new skill!''


    Felix thought as a smile started forming on his face as he stared at the Rank 2 monsters, who were looking like bags of skill points in front of him.


    ''Battlefield Awareness!''


    The moment he activated the skill, Felix widened his eyes in shock as he sensed a newfound feeling in his mind and body.


    He felt his breath as his thoughts calmed, the noises of the surroundings fading into the background.


    As he ran forward, he could clearly feel the touch of his feet to the ground, the texture of the soil and the rocks around his every step.


    Felix could feel his senses sharpen; every breath, every movement, every sound became crystal clear to him.


    His vision expanded, allowing him to take in the entire scene of the battlefield, not just what he saw in front of him but also behind him as if a simtion of the current reality with him in the centre had formed in his mind.


    ''I can see everything.....''


    Staring ahead at Selena who was singlehandedly facing a Rank 2 Deadly Spider, Felix saw the monster''s movements and easily found its several weaknesses, correctly predicted the next move it was going to perform and calcted the best possible move he could use to counter-attack.


    ''It''s not just that simple....''


    Simultaneously, he eyed the arrows whizzing above their heads and attacking the spiders, their speed, trajectory and target immediately appearing very detailed to his senses.


    The positions and status of the other team members behind him and the movements and attacks of all the Deadly Spiders around him, Felix could notice all of that in his state of heightened perception.


    ''This is.....'', he didn''t know how he could describe what he was feeling, but if he had to give it a word, it would be.


    ".....Epic!"


    Taking out his sword, Felix grinned wildly as he rushed ahead using an Agility Burst.


    "W-Wait Felix-!"


    Roven shouted out in panic but the boy had already joined Selena as he attacked the huge spider''s legs.


    "ck Horizon Sword Arts: First Technique!"


    Raising his sword above his head, Felix''s eyes glowed in rity as he found the perfect spot on the spider to attack.


    "Singr sh!!"


    The spider attacked him with one of its sharp legs, but his sword moved in tandem with it and hit the thinnest and weakest spot of that leg.


    Krick!


    His sword shed through the spider''s leg, disconnecting it from its body as the de continued moving towards the other legs without reducing its speed.


    Before the spider could even shriek in pain, three of its legs had been chopped off by Felix as he took a few steps back and turned to the side.


    "Dust st!"


    He used another skill at the other Rank 2 Deadly Spiders that were closing on them.


    "KREKHIIKHH!!"


    Selena used the chance when the Rank 2 monster fell due to the imbnce in its legs and attacked its body with her broadsword.


    Roven had finally reached them but he could only watch in astonishment as the huge spider crashed onto the ground helplessly.


    "You..you two are.....so reckless."


    He couldn''t help but sigh as he saw Selena stepping up onto the spider''s body to kill it off.


    "Earth Spikes!"


    Felix quickly used his skill before she could have the final hit, as a few spikes emerged below the spider''s underbelly and pierced into its heart.


    The Rank 2 Deadly Spider lost the light in its eyes as Selena stood stunned with her sword raised up high.


    [Ding!]


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 100 skill points.]


    The monster she had wanted to kill wasid dead before her just when she was about to end it.


    "H-How could you....", Selena turned her head to re at Felix angrily for stealing her prey.


    Meanwhile, Felix had a wide grin growing on his face as he turned to look at the other Rank 2 Deadly Spiders.


    "Hehehe let''s move to the next one."

 Chapter 145: Selenas Dilemma.

    As if like a board of chess, Felix could read the entire battlefield from what his senses were feeding him.


    He could clearly perceive the dead Rank 2 monster, Selena jumping down from its huge body, and Roven breathing heavily as he muttered anxiously.


    "Felix...and you Selena....try to stick to the n alright, guys?"


    Selena narrowed her amethyst eyes as she ignored his words and stomped her way towards Felix who was eyeing the approaching spiders.


    "You! What was that just now?!", she stood behind Felix and asked with a demanding tone.


    Turning around while gripping his sword, Felix was taken aback by her question as he shrugged confusingly.


    "What do you mean by ''that''? Is something wrong?"


    Seeing his nonchnt and ignorant face, Selena gritted her teeth in anger as she pointed at the dead Rank 2 Spider.


    "That! I was just about to kill it and you interfered, why did you do that?!"


    Felix looked over at the dead monster and scratched his head before replying with a cool smile.


    "Oh, that? You don''t have to thank me, I just wanted to help you....."


    At this point, Selena''s face had turned reddish due to all the anger, so she did what she would normally do when she got angry.


    "YOU BAASSTAARDD!!"


    Kicking off the ground, she raised her broadsword above her head and brought it done towards Felix with all her power.


    Caught off guard by her sudden attack, Felix instinctively stepped back as his skill Battlefield Awareness kicked in to help him.


    "What the fuck!!"


    He quickly dodged the attack with another Agility Burst as her broadsword crashed onto the spot he was just standing on.


    "Selena! What the hell are you doing?!"


    Roven yelled in panic as the two members of his group stood in a battle stance against each other.


    "Yeah Selena, put down your sword! Why the hell are you attacking me?", Felix eximed awkwardly with his sword raised in defence.


    He knew he had wronged her by stealing her kill but he didn''t think she would react so....aggressively.


    ''Is she getting skill points too or what?''


    Selena pointed her broadsword at his face and huffed angrily before slowly calming down.


    "I don''t like it when someone pokes their nose in my business, so stay out of what I''m doing and don''t interfere! I can handle those monsters on my own!"


    Felix and Roven nced at each other for a moment in confusion, before turning back to her as Roven reasoned.


    "But...but Sir Evan ordered us to form groups of three. The rest of them are already done, so the three of us are the only ones left."


    He shrugged helplessly and pointed at the two of them.


    "You, me and Felix. We''ll have to work in a team for this task, there''s no other option."


    Selena became silent for a few seconds before shaking her head.


    "No. There is another option."


    Felix gestured at Roven towards the monster for him to hurry, making him nod but before he could open his mouth, Selena continued as she waved around her broadsword.


    "The other option is that the two of you will watch me fight those Rank 2 monsters, and do nothing else, but watch!"


    "Whoosh!"


    Saying so, she kicked off the ground to jump over them while conjuring some metal chains andunched herself towards the distant Rank 2 Deadly Spiders.


    Felix and Roven quickly turned around as they stood speechless.


    "The hell is wrong with her?! Is it because I don''t understand woman, or is she really a bit weird?", Felix asked with a scoff.


    Roven sighed as he gave a wry smile.


    "I''m no expert, but I too think she really is a bit weird..."


    The two of them watched as Selena danced between the spiders while the other two teams had finally arrived at the front, giving them a headache.


    "What should we do now?", Roven scratched his head.


    Felix narrowed his eyes and grinned as he stretched his hands.


    "Well, annoying that girl is what we''ll be doing now.", he chuckled before running towards Selena to ''help'' her.


    "Let''s go Roven, stay close to me."


    The boy could only nod helplessly as he ran over to follow the two entric teammates of his.


    As the swarm of Rank 1 Deadly Spiders around them were getting shot down by the nonstop arrows with urate precision, the three teams started their confrontation with the Rank 2 Deadly Spiders.


    Felix sensed all the movements and actions happening in his surroundings as he used a few of his skills.


    "Quicksand! Dust st!"


    He pushed away a few of the Rank 2 Spiders from nearing them and they easily backed a few meters due to their light bodies.


    Meanwhile, the soil on the walls and ceiling of the tunnel softened, hindering the spiders from moving in an agile manner.


    "Roven! If she doesn''t want us to interfere, then we can only choose to support her moves. You''ll have to watch her back for the stray spiders while I push away the Rank 2 ones!"


    Felix quickly instructed him as he eyed Selena fighting another of the Rank 2 Deadly Spiders.


    "Sigh...just don''t bickerter, alright!", Roven yelled and rushed off to fend off the weaker spiders.


    Selena on the other hand blocked the quick jabs of the huge spider and jumped to the side when it spit out its acid to attack her.


    "Cheh. You''re asking for it!"


    She raised her broadsword above her head and took a battle stance with a serious face before concentrating on her attack.


    "You idiot, that spider isn''t gonna wait...", Felix twisted his lips looking at her and dashed over as he raised his left hand.


    "Earth Spikes!"


    The Rank 2 Deadly Spider who was about to jump towards Selena was interrupted by the sharp spikes that protruded from underneath it.


    The spikes only distracted the monster and couldn''t wound or harm it due to its low-mass body, but those few seconds of negligence was enough to seal its fate.


    Selena stretched her broadsword behind her back and sped forward as she muttered under her breath.


    "Metallic Dominion Sword Arts: Second Technique!"


    She jumped over from her spot as her broadsword glowed in a silver hue, before heading directly towards the surprised Spider as she brought down her heavy sword.


    "Lunar Ironfall."


    A soft hum left her mouth as a half-moon glow appeared in the dark tunnel from the downward swing of her broadsword, aimed exactly at the Rank 2 Spider''s body.


    "Swish!"


    Selenanded gracefully as she kneeled down with her bloodied weapon touching the ground.


    The Deadly Spider''s body suddenly split into two halves, falling onto the ground as its legs gave out.


    "Thud!"


    Standing up, Selena turned to look at the stunned Felix on the side and snickered.


    "See? I told you I can handle it alone."


    Felix blinked a few times and let out a dry chuckle as he argued.


    "Keh...you''re blind or what? Didn''t you see how I distracted that Spider when it was about to attack you?!"


    There was no way Felix would let someone mistake his support for their sess.


    "You would''ve been wounded, if not died, had I not assisted you. Are you really an idiot?"


    She widened her eyes in realisation at his words.


    "S-Shut the hell up, you''re the idiot!"


    Selena took a step back and blushed slightly in embarrassment, as she did understand she had made a blunder during the battle to show off her strength.


    Her sudden change in attitude surprised him as he didn''t think she would react like that due to her mistake.


    Waving off his hand, Felix gestured towards the front as he sensed some movements there.


    "Whatever, now you understand it''s dangerous fighting alone, especially in this narrow tunnel. So stop making a fuss and cooperate with me."


    He nced at her with an intense look and muttered in a strangely forced tone.


    "No words can express how much I want to set myself loose and massacre those spiders, but I''m holding myself back because of Sir Evan''s orders.....so why don''t we stop our talk and get to work?"


    His words made her freeze as she looked directly into his ruby crystal eyes, the only part of his body which currently showed his true emotions.


    And inside his eyes, she saw something....


    Something that she had seen numerous times during her missions of hunting wild monsters, but even that paled in front of this.


    She saw in his eyes, hunger, greed and craze, and a slight hint of obsession, when he talked about massacring the spiders.


    What she didn''t know was that she was absolutely right with her thoughts, as Felix was just thinking about it.


    ''I gotta kill those spiders! There are finally some Rank 2 ones, I can''t miss this chance, that''s 100 skill points for each of them! I have to hurry before the other teams finish their opponents....''


    Felix rested his sword on his shoulder and tilted his head towards the spiders as he called out.


    "So....Selena, what do you say? Want to kill those spiders together?"


    His offer made her go silent, pondering as she felt conflicted about fighting in a team which she had never done before.


    No matter where she went, people would fawn over her for her status, beauty and talent. The same followed at the guild, which tired her both mentally and physically, from the expectations and pressures, making her feel that being alone seemed much better.


    It even made her want to leave the guild at some point, but the Mystic Society guild was the only thing left that connected her to her dead mother, so she could only remain there.


    With her ignorant father being there just a bonus, for always being busy with the guild and never spending time with her.


    Staring at the silver-haired boy who seemed to be getting restless by each passing second as he constantly nced behind at the monsters, Selena sighed and rubbed her forehead.


    "You do realise you''re just a Rank 1 fighter, right? How are you so confident of holding your ground against a group of Rank 2 monsters?"


    Felix paused as he made a sarcastic face.


    "Though I''m honoured you remembered my Rank.....isn''t it toote to ask that question?", he gestured at the front with a strange face, "I mean, who do you think was fending off the other Rank 2 monsters while you were fighting this one?"


    There was a look of confusion on Selena''s face before she looked at the directions Felix was pointing at, where she saw a shocking scene that made her widen her eyes.


    A number of Rank 2 Deadly Spiders screeched around helplessly in the distance, their thin and sharp legs sunken into the ground with dust and rocks covering their bodies, a sad state for their rather grandeur entrance.


    "W-What..."


    Felix didn''t allow Selena to continue her words as he started walking towards the immobilised and weakened Rank 2 Deadly Spiders, this time even without her presence.


    "You''ll get left behind if you don''t hurry up, Selena. Or would you like to just sit down and watch me kill them?"


    Seeing him use her own words against her, Selena gritted her teeth and stomped her legs to catch up to him.


    "W-Wait....I''ming. Don''t you dare fight them without me!! I''ll kill you!!"

 Chapter 146: Best Assistant.

    Roven turned and looked over at his two teammates who were moving towards the Rank 2 Deadly Spiders together.


    "So they''re finally going at it huh..."


    He shed apart the few weaker spiders around him and thought in his mind.


    ''I won''t be of much use to them against the Rank 2 monsters, so it''s better if I hold these weaker ones behind from intervening....''


    As Roven decided for himself, the two of them came face to face with the immobilised Rank 2 Deadly Spiders.


    "They''re sitting ducks with their legs stuck, long-range attacks will be enough.", Felix said as he raised his hand forward.


    "Earth Spikes!"


    Selena understood his intention from looking at the soft ground as she too used her spell.


    "Metallic Rain!"


    The two dualists stood far away from the monsters and cast their spells on the helpless spiders, wounding them until they bled.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 100 skill points.]


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 100 skill points.]


    As Selena''s Metallic Rain attacknded on the spiders from above, Felix took advantage of that and attacked their weak parts from underneath using his Earth Spikes.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 100 skill points.]


    Seeing three of the Rank 2 Deadly Spiders fall down so easily, Selena raised a brow with an impressed expression.


    "This way of fighting isn''t that bad...", she then looked at her broadsword before muttering, "....but it feels quitecking."


    Felix nced at her and nodded, understanding the thrill of fighting monsters head-on.


    "I know that feeling. But now is not the time, take a look behind you."


    She raised her head at his words and turned behind curiously, wondering what he meant.


    The other two teams, including Evan, Melissa and Roven, were continuously battling the iing spiders.


    The monsters kept oning endlessly, making it difficult for the others to handle them and even injuring them due to the huge number of spiders.


    And the addition of the Rank 2 Deadly Spiders further increased the danger the other two teams were facing.


    "See? This isn''t the time to rush off alone to satisfy our craving for fighting. Instead, we mustbine our powers and deal with them as efficiently and quickly as possible."


    Felix shrugged as he shook his head.


    "Or else we''ll be risking everyone''s lives. But if you''re okay with that, then there''s nothing I can do..."


    Selena gripped her weapon tightly as she bit her lip, showing a conflicted expression on her face.


    "I....I wouldn''t want that to happen! It''s just....I''m not used to following orders and coordinating in a team. Fighting alone has always been my..."


    Felix scratched his head in frustration as he sighed.


    He wasn''t in the mood to entertain her or motivate her at the moment, as three minutes had already passed for his skill Battlefield Awareness.


    "Hey!", he turned towards the approaching monsters with a sigh.


    "I don''t know about you, but....please don''t waste my time with your sad story. All I want is for you to watch my back and I''ll watch your back while we fight, alright?"


    Selena red back at him as she gritted her teeth, finding him hateful as the seconds went by.


    "I really want to stab you, but I''ll hold myself back this time."


    Waving his hand as he stepped forward, Felix chuckled.


    "Well, you''re always wee to do that, but don''t expect me to not stab you back."


    Swinging his sword, he eyed the other Rank 2 Deadly Spiders making their way towards them.


    "Enough chit-chat. Now, why don''t we entertain our guests?"


    It seemed there wasn''t a need for him to say that as Selena dashed past him from behind, jumping towards the spiders as she unleashed her attacks.


    "Iron Thrust!"


    Felix grinned at her eagerness, before rushing forward as his mind started reading all the information of the current battlefield.


    ''She really doesn''t hesitate at all ....''


    Arriving beside Selena who was shing her sword at the front most Rank 2 Deadly Spider, Felix used the same previous tactic to stop the rest of them.


    "Dust st!"


    "Quicksand!"


    After pushing away the other spiders, he focused back on the one Selena was currently fighting.


    The Rank 2 Deadly Spider seemed to be having a difficult time blocking off Selena''s attacks, who had be more aggressive than usual due to Felix''s taunting.


    ''Who does he think he is!''


    She mercilessly swung her heavy broadsword in aplete circle, before chopping off two legs of the spider.


    Felix didn''t hesitate either, as he sneaked behind from the spider''s blindspot and unleashed his attack.


    "ck Horizon Sword Arts: Third Technique!"


    Arriving above the spider''s body, he shed down forcibly with his upgraded sword.


    "Assault Impact!"


    His sword was aimed exactly at the spider''s back, and just when the monster was about to dodge to the side, Selena assisted with her spell.


    "Dominic Chains!"


    A bundle of metallic chains appeared out of nowhere in a sh, bounding the spider as it restricted its movement.


    Swoosh!


    Then came the heavy attack as Felix pierced his sword directly into the spider''s body, the impact blowing it into pieces as the spider died on the spot.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 100 skill points.]


    Landing on the ground that wasn''t covered with blood, Felix muttered calmly.


    "These Deadly Spiders must be a weak race of monsters, they can''t even take a few hits."


    Selena looked at him with disdain as she harrumphed.


    "You sure talk big when you wouldn''t have killed it if not for my spell."


    Now that he remembered it, Felix turned to smile at her honestly.


    "Right. You''re doing an amazing job, just keep on assisting me like that. You''ll be a great teammate.", he even gave her a thumbs up.


    He was very happy with the way things were going right now. In just about a few minutes, he had already earned back the skill points he had spent on the Battlefield Awareness skill.


    ''Maybe I should upgrade that skill. It''s a lot more useful than I thought....''.


    With the skill activated, he didn''t have to always remain cautious and tense during the battles anymore, as he would instinctively sense if something was wrong.


    Suddenly, he felt his senses sending him danger alerts, making him swing his sword almost unconsciously.


    ng!


    A broadsword crashed onto his weapon, pushing him a few steps back as he heard a furious yet soothing voice.


    "Arrogant bastard!! How dare you treat me like your assistant!!", Selena yelled with all her might.


    ''Fucking hell! Again?! What''s wrong with her?!''


    Parrying her broadsword away, Felix used an Agility Burst to retreat backwards into the group of Rank 2 spiders.


    Somehow, he felt safer when he was surrounded by these monsters rather than being anywhere near that woman.


    But her attacks were of noughing matter. He even thought she used a bit more of her strength when attacking him, unlike the case with the monsters.


    "Don''t you run away!!"


    Selena shouted wildly as she jumped into the crowd of Rank 2 Deadly Spiders, searching for the silver-haired boy.


    Meanwhile, Felix just had a great idea in his mind as he grinned cunningly.


    "Silent Steps."


    His presence abruptly lowered, confusing the nearby spiders who were just about to shoot their acids at him.


    Due to his tendency to always rush off into fights for more action and skill points, he had almost forgotten about this skill of his.


    But now it seemed there was a need to use it.


    Felix walked unnoticed amidst the group of Rank 2 Deadly Spiders waiting for the right moment to strike, as he knew his cover would be useless once he showed himself.


    Selena, on the other hand, resisted the attacks from the monsters and even had the time to hit them back while looking for Felix.


    But what she didn''t know was that he was hidden just a few meters away from her, eyeing the two monsters who were suffering from her anger at the moment.


    ''Sigh...I kinda pity those spiders...''


    If it was him, he would''ve given them a quick and merciful death as he was more interested in the skill points that they gave him after their death, and not enjoy hitting them like this certain someone.


    Calmly moving like a fish in an ocean full of sharks, he slowly made his way towards Selena seeing that she had almost finished defeating the two spiders.


    ''Earth Swimming.''


    Felix suddenly sank into the ground, before moving towards the spot just below their battle.


    From the information he was getting through the Battlefield Awareness skill, he understood the spiders'' positions and their weakness, which gave him the best possible opportunity to kill them.


    ''Earth Spikes!''


    With urate aim, a few spikes emerged from the ground below one of the spiders, stabbing sharply into the softest part of its underbelly.


    The spider screeched in pain before falling down, gaining the other spider and Selena''s attention as she turned to the side in surprise.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 100 skill points.]


    At the same time, Felix sneakily swam up from the ground below the other Rank 2 spider''s body.


    "Singr sh!"


    Catching the spider by surprise, he attacked it directly into its lower jaw, his sword piercing out from the other side of its head.


    The Rank 2 Deadly Spider didn''t even get the chance to cry out in pain as Felix swung his sword out to detach its head from the body.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 100 skill points.]


    Felix stepped back as the spider''s body fell to the ground, his face beaming with joy as the system''s chimes pleased him.


    ''600 skill points in only about twenty minutes? This is sick!''


    If he fought Rank 1 monsters, he''d need to kill 60 of them for the same amount, which would take much longer time too.


    On the other hand, six of these Rank 2 monsters gave him 600 skill points, reducing the time and work by a lot, though he had to be stronger to face higher-ranked beings.


    He calcted for a few seconds and thought decisively.


    ''That''s it. From now on I''ll just ignore these Rank 1 monsters unless necessary, killing Rank 2 monsters takes more priority than anything.''


    Thinking so, he turned his head to smile at the other Rank 2 Deadly Spiders at a distance waiting for him, his mood turning joyful.


    ''You''re all mine~''


    Swoosh!


    Abruptly, pieces of sharp metals formed above him, glistening sharply as he heard a simr furious yell.


    "Caught you bastard!!"

 Chapter 147: A Better Deal.

    Felix felt a buzz ringing inside his mind, transmitting to him information about the current battlefield and the danger he was facing.


    "Shit!"


    Looking at the pointed metallic shards looming over his head, he quickly took action.


    ''Agility Burst!''


    There was no time for him to face the attack or escape into the ground, so he could only hurriedly retreat backwards as the metal shards rained down on the spot where he stood a few seconds ago.


    "Whew~ That was close....", he gasped in relief.


    But Selena didn''t seem to hold herself back as sheunched forward while raising her broadsword.


    "Take this you arrogant prick!!"


    Before Felix could rx, another attack came down towards him, making him raise his sword in defence.


    "GODDAMMIT!! Will you stop for a second?!"


    Their swords shed against each other, lighting up sparks as Felix gritted his teeth in a struggle.


    ''Fuck! She''s too strong!''


    Even though he could sense and predict her movements with his skill Battlefield Awareness, he wasn''t at the same physical level as her, who was at Rank 2.


    The two of them pushed their swords onto each other, and eventually, Felix couldn''t handle anymore as he took a few steps back.


    Selena took advantage of that as she quickly swung her broadsword again to hit on his sword.


    ng!!


    The force of the attack sent trembles from the sword to Felix''s body, making him fly a few meters away as his body felt numb.


    After rolling a few times on the ground, he hurriedly used his skill.


    ''Earth Swimming.''


    Selena dashed towards him to carry on with her hits, but his body finally sank into the ground before her broadsword couldnd on him.


    Felix sighed in relief after he escaped from her, moving around the underground as he started analysing the battlefield.


    ''There''s clearly something wrong with her brain, but I can''t waste any more time fighting her. I only have about a few minutes left for the skill to stop....''


    As he thought to make the best use of the remaining time from the Battlefield Awareness skill, Felix quickly calcted the perfect spot to emerge from the ground tounch an attack on the monsters.


    ''There!''


    Finding a ce near the wall of the tunnel behind a few spiders, he hurriedly swam over there through the underground.


    Felix slowly emerged out and narrowed his eyes while bringing his sword in front of his chest, eyeing the more than dozens of huge spiders.


    ''There''s no time to waste. I have to be serious now!''


    To satisfy his growing greed for more skill points and the short time left for his skill, Felix decided to go all out on the numerous spiders in front of him.


    He activated and focused on all the skills that could help him achieve his current strongest stage.


    ''Equanimity! Enhanced Brain! Parabolic Hearing! Ratio Technique!''


    After forcibly turning on these active and passive skills after thoughtful consideration, in addition to the already activated Battlefield Awareness skill, Felix sensed the rush of information and strategies to carry out the battle, yet felt calm and collected at the same time.


    The sounds around him got filtered with the the Parabolic Hearing skill, curbing down all the useless shouts, screeches, and echoes in the tunnel, except for the footsteps and breathings of the monsters, and the sound of weapons.


    In this state, he felt like a battle genius and strategist, reminding him to use the other things in his possession.


    ''Let''s see how useful they are.''


    Felix took out a ne from his small shoulder bag and wore it. He also took out a piece of paper from it and stuck it on his sword.


    They were the two Rare grade treasures he had found in the Underworld Castle, the Blood Amulet and an earth attribute talisman, one of the five from the Elemental Talismans.


    After equipping them, he felt a newfound energy coursing through his mind and sword, one was refreshing and the other was heavy.


    Gripping the sword that now held a wisp of earth elemental power, Felix closed his eyes to think for a second before opening them again, a bright gleam shing out.


    "Huh!"


    Letting out a short breath, he kicked off the ground using an Agility Burst and dived towards the monsters, targeting only the Rank 2 Deadly Spiders as Evan was still skillfully handling the Rank 1''s with his arrows.


    Felix shed like a bolt and arrived right between three of the Rank 2 Deadly Spiders, swinging his sword at the red line appearing on one of them while simultaneously using another skill.


    "Earth Spikes!"


    With his surprise attack, he urately sliced apart a spider''s head from its blindspot with his single sh, killing it in one go.


    His sword enhanced with the element of earth passed like butter through the thin and hard jaw of the spider.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 100 skill points.]


    At the same time, the spikes attacked the weak parts of the other two spiders, specifically the leg joints and abdomen.


    ''One down.''


    Felix rapidly stepped away from the falling corpse of the dead spider and mingled with the two injured spiders, who were staggering and limping due to the sharp pain in their body.


    "KHWEEKHH!!"


    The two spiders spat out their acid on him when they failed tond a hit on him, but Felix easily dodged them using his enhanced instincts.


    ''Ratio Technique.''


    A sword shed through the air, carrying with it a dense energy of earth, before piercing into the heart of one of the spiders.


    "KWIRKK!!"


    The huge spider trembled on the spot as blood drops fell on the ground starting from the sword.


    "Whooshh!"


    Felix quickly pulled out his sword and ignored the wounded spider, before turning around and blocking the attack that was aimed at his head from the other spider.


    The huge Deadly Spider was so surprised at the human''s reaction speed that it didn''t even feel the pain in its leg that was currently cut down by Felix.


    The sword on the other hand didn''t stop and moved like a snake, targeting the bright red line on the spider''s head.


    Before long, the spider felt a sharp piece of metal entering the deepest part of its brain, and a few secondster, it felt a cold sensation as the chilling wind passed by into its head.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 100 skill points.]


    Along with that chime came a thudding sound as the other wounded spider fell after losing all the blood from its heart.


    [You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]


    [You have gained 100 skill points.]


    Standing among the spider corpses as he jerked off the blood from his sword, Felix heard some skittering sounds from behind him.


    "Three down and more iing, huh?"


    He grinned crazily as he turned around to face the other Rank 2 Deadly Spiders that had stepped forward to fill the space of the narrow tunnel.


    "You spiders sure know how to make me happy.", Felix chuckled as he gripped his sword, "Don''t worry, everyone will get their turn."


    ''Agility Burst!''


    ''Silent Steps!''


    The spiders rushed towards him together, but he was faster as he disappeared into their crowd, hiding among the monsters to find the best way to attack.


    Suddenly, the ground below the spiders started to liquefy, preventing them from stepping around properly as their legs staggered.


    It happened for about 10 meters of radius from the middle of a spot, and from that spot, another massacre started as Felix magically appeared on top of one of the Rank 2 Deadly Spiders.


    "Earth Spikes! Ratio Technique!"


    With his superior instincts and thirst for battle, the monsters faced another carnage as their predator would never let them go until he heard a chime.


    But for Felix, it was a moment he wished which could repeat again and again.


    *****


    Underworld, Edenmont City.


    A man wearing a loose robe and a mask, to hide his face, was tapping his leg on the floor anxiously while sitting alone in a room.


    He was shifting his eyes around the ce cautiously, as he had taken a huge risk toe here all alone.


    After waiting for a long time at the ce, he was starting to get impatient and angry, but there was nothing he could do as the people of this ce were the only ones who would be able to help him with his problem.


    "Cheh....these scums! How dare they waste my time like this...", eventhough he was in need of their help, that didn''t mean he would respect and care about them as they weren''t anywhere near to his status.


    After a minute, the door of the room opened and a man wearing a dark blue suit entered inside with a smile.


    A gray robed person followed him in and closed the door before standing there.


    The man in the blue suit greeted the masked man politely as he offered his hand.


    "Wee to the Underworld. It''s an honour that a man as great as you, Howard Ryeagon, the younger brother of the Duke of Edenmont City would like to meet me, an insignificantwless criminal."


    While the masked man, who was actually Howard Ryeagon, eyed the smiling man in front of him warily and removed the mask on his face.


    "It seems like the rumours were true. You have the tongue of a snake, Mr.Dealer.", Howard stood up and raised his hand forward as the two exchanged a handshake.


    Mr.Dealer sat across the table infront of Howard, asking him cordially.


    "Please sit, Sir Howard. Would you like to drink anything? Wine or Tea?", he gestured towards the Grey Robed man.


    Howard sat down with a sigh as he shook his head with a frown.


    "I''ve already waited a long time for you here, so I want to be straightforward with you without wasting any more time. So no, I won''t have a drink."


    Though it was dumb to havee here alone as he didn''t want anyone to know this, he wasn''t stupid enough to also drink something made by these people.


    Mr.Dealer nodded with his usual smile at the refusal and replied.


    "Alright, that''s fine. So if you want it to be straightforward, then may I get to the point and ask you the reason for your visit?"


    Facing the direct inquiry, Howard looked seriously at the man before him and stated slowly.


    "I have a deal for you, Mr.Dealer.....A deal that''ll profit the both of us tremendously."


    Hearing the serious yet slightly excited words from Howard, Mr.Dealer shrugged passively.


    "I thought you wanted to be straightforward, Sir Howard. So mind telling me what this deal is about?"


    Getting reminded back of his own words, Howard let out an awkward cough as he decided to stop being mysterious and suspenseful.


    "So the thing is, I want to you and your subordinates to stop the dark guilds from interfering with the guild wars that is currently taking ce in the Edenmont Dungeon."


    "I don''t know what reasons they may have for doing it, but I know they''ll only bring about destruction to the entire city if not stopped."


    "I''m willing to provide you with the suitable amount of money for such a task and am also ready to offer you more privileges if you choose to ept it. So what do you say? Do we have a deal?"


    Presenting the deal he was talking about in one go without taking a breath, Howard waited for the man''s decision worriedly.


    Mr.Dealer had a pondering face, but then he took out a silver clockwatch to check the time and smiled at the man.


    "It seems I''ll have to refuse such a deal, Sir Howard.", he then turned to gesture at the grey robed man.


    Howard widened his eyes in panic at the quick refusal as he stuttered hurriedly.


    "W-Wait...Mr.Dealer. I''m sure we can t-talk more about it...Is it about the money? I can increase the amount...."


    Mr.Dealer shook his head and said.


    "It''s not about the money. The deal is just too dangerous and high of a risk for me."


    Howard clenched his fists in worry as he asked anxiously.


    "Isn''t...Isn''t there something we can do about it? Don''t you want to protect the Edenmont City? A lot of people will die as usual if the Dark Guilds are not stopped."


    Mr.Dealer nced around the room as he made a pondering face, before holding his chin as he nodded.


    "I think there''s a better way to do this...A better deal than the previous one..."


    Howard''s eyes lit up as he moved his butt forward on the seat and asked impatiently.


    "Yes yes! Please tell me about it, Mr.Dealer. I''m all ears!"


    Seeing the excited look on the man''s face, Mr.Dealer smiled as he pped his hand towards the grey-robed man.


    "Well, we''re going to need more than just my gang to take part in this deal. So, why don''t I introduce you to some of our future partners in this deal?"


    Howard got a bit confused at his words, but as the grey-robed man opened the door of the room after getting his boss''s order, he understood what he meant.


    Led by a man wearing a one-eye patch on his face, a few people slowly entered the room one by one as they took their seats.


    "You...You....", Howard was shocked to his core when he came face to face with some of the notorious people from the underworld.


    The man with the eye patch raised his legs and crossed them on the table, as he picked his ear with his pinky finger.


    "Why are y''all so quiet? Hurry up and get done with it already, I have to go back to the forest...."


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 148: Underworld Council Members.

    Sitting at the table while being stared at by the members of the Underworld Council like a sheep between hungry wolves, Howard tried his best to rx.


    ''Am I in trouble?!''


    He gulped hard before eyeing Mr.Dealer with a forced smile.


    "Haha, this....Can I....Umm....Ask what''s going on?", he stuttered while sweating.


    Mr.Dealer had his signature smile on his face as he pocketed his silver clockwatch.


    "This is what I was talking about. A better deal than the one before, with lowered risks and morepany. Quite expensive if you''ll ask me though, but fret not..."


    He gestured his hands around the table, a tone of confidence in his voice.


    "....because we''re more than enough to get this work done."


    ncing at the people in front of him, Howard sensed their power from just sitting in the same room as them, making him take a deep breath.


    ''This is not trouble....this is a chance!'', his eyes lit up at the thought of using them as pawns for his goal.


    Even though his initial objective ofing here was to seek help in stopping the dark guilds, the current opportunity present in front of him made him think twice.


    ''As long as they ept this deal and help me, I''ll be the hero of Edenmont City....Maybe I could even step up as the Duke after Theodore loses his reputation and support, thenter it doesn''t matter if I promise them money and treasures....''


    As his greedy thoughts reached here, Howard smiled widely and changed the way he was looking at the people in the room.


    "This is amazing, Mr.Dealer. You''re truly brilliant from the rumours I''ve heard of you. With your help, I''m sure-"


    "


    Bang!"


    Suddenly, a fist mmed on the table as Howard jerked back in fear while looking to the side.


    A tall woman with neck-level blonde hair and sharp features, wearing a tight-fitted ck gown and purple lipstick on her lips, stood up from her seat and narrowed her eyes on Howard.


    "Cut to the chase. Deal or no deal?"


    Staring at the woman in slight shock for making a scene, Howard didn''t know what to say as he looked at Mr.Dealer as if he was his saviour.


    "Now now, don''t be so hasty, Viona.", Mr.Dealer smiled calmly at her and cated.


    "I''m sure Sir Howard has a lot to think about. I mean, he has not even yet been introduced to the other partners in this deal. So why don''t we start by introducing ourselves to him?"


    He then gestured at Viona with a nod.


    "Why don''t we start with you, Viona?"


    Viona red at Howard for a few seconds before sitting down and shrugged.


    "Introduction? Well...fine. I''m Viona Frawley. Is that enough?"


    Mr.Dealer nodded with a smile, but Howard on the other hand finally remembered who she was as he became shocked.


    ''Viona Frawley!? Isn''t she the dead sister of Vincent Frawley, the guild leader of Crimson Dawn guild?! How is she alive and what''s she doing in the Underworld?!''


    As curious as he was of her situation, he couldn''t ask anything as a man wearing sses and sitting beside her leaned towards the table with a chuckle.


    The man was middle-aged and a bit chubby, with a bald top and thin hair on the sides of his head, reflecting the light in the room.


    He was wearing a huge brown suit and a plethora of essories on him, including rings on every finger, a few nes and some bracelets on his arms too.


    "Ah, it''s my turn I guess. Hello there, I''m Oberon Westha. Although I may look like this, I''m actually the overseer of the Underworld''s ck Market, it''ll be a pleasure to work with you."


    Getting an enthusiastic introduction from the other person, Howard nodded politely before taking another nce at the man who was basically the boss of the famous ck Market.


    ''This bald guy? Really? But he does seem wealthy though...''


    Sitting beside Oberon was Mr.Dealer, who coughed once and smiled.


    "As you already know, I''m called by the moniker Mr.Dealer by the people around me, so you can call me the same. And I''m the Head of Foreign Affairs for the Underworld."


    He then looked to his left side where a buffed man with shoulder-level thick ck hair, wearing torn clothes was sitting with his arms crossed, a stiff expression covering his face.


    The man let out a low growl from his mouth as he eyed Howard with a dark look.


    "Me...Shura....The Arena....I...Work..."


    Feeling the man staring at him intently, Howard felt goosebumps on his skin as he quickly turned to thest person in the room who hadn''t yet introduced himself.


    "Hzzzzz....hzzzzz....."


    But he could only open his mouth wide in surprise at the man with an eye patch, who was sleeping with his legs still on the table.


    Just when he was about to call out to the man, the other four people in the room suddenly raised their hands towards him to stop.


    "Huh- What happened?", Howard asked in confusion.


    "Shhhh...", Mr.Dealer hushed at him quietly with a sweat drop falling on his forehead.


    Oberon, who was sitting near to him, whispered with a scared expression.


    "Don''t make any noise, that person is Graham.", he introduced worriedly.


    "He''s the strongest person in the Underworld, and if you disturb or wake him up when he''s sleeping....then he''ll destroy everything and everyone around him in anger."


    Howard took a deep gulp in fear as he eyed Graham grimly, before slowly adjusting in his seat in an attempt to lower his presence.


    Mr.Dealer looked at the man who had fallen right into his n, all the way from the beginning to the end, which turned him from an authoritative person to a mild sheep.


    In a hushed voice, he asked the man with gestures.


    "So tell me, Sir Howard. Do you ept this deal with us? We can guarantee to work this out just the way you want..."


    This was thest nail that needed to be hammered to manipte the man, into epting his deal without raising any unreasonable demands.


    Howard who was on the verge of crumbling down rapidly nodded as his eyes lit up when the talk of the deal was brought back again.


    "....yes..yes. I ept...I ept the deal."


    Mr.Dealer smiled widely as he took out a paper from his inner suit, giving it to Howard as he stated.


    "This is the contract for the deal, please sign it here.", he pointed at the end of the long page.


    Howard was a bit surprised when he saw that even the contract already ready, but when he started reading the things mentioned on it, he almost let out a shout in disbelief.


    "Shhhh.....Keep quiet. We don''t want to wake up that man.", Mr.Dealer reminded as he looked at the restless face of the man.


    "What''s there to think about? Wouldn''t this be pointless after you get what you need from the deal?", he winked with an understanding expression.


    Howard let out a low cough and hid his smile as he turned back to look at the paper, before signing it off with the pen Mr.Dealer was ready with.


    After keeping the paper away, Mr.Dealer and Howard stood up silently as they shook each other''s hands, keeping their voices still low.


    "It was nice doing business with you, we''ll see each other again after our victory.", Mr.Dealer whispered.


    "Yes, I can''t wait to hear the good news."


    After smiling at each other, Mr.Dealer apanied Howard outside of the room, ordering the gray-robed man to take him to the surface world.


    Entering back into the room, Mr.Dealer and his colleagues smiled at each other as he walked over and patted Graham''s shoulder.


    "Wake up, buddy. The deal''s done, you can stop acting now."


    There wasn''t any reply from Graham as he kept snoring lowly, making Mr.Dealer raise his brow in surprise.


    "Hmm? No way. Did he really fall asleep?", he chuckled with a small smile. "Well.....Maybe we should let him rest for a bit then."


    Unfortunately, the other people in the room weren''t that kind as they smirked mischievously.


    "GRAHAM!! WAKE UP!!"¡Á3


    They shouted and banged on the table, making Graham jump up in shock as he nced around with his one eye.


    "H-Huh? Why are you guys shouting? What happened?"


    The one sitting nearest to him, the buff man wearing torn clothes named Shura, smiled shyly as he scratched his head, apletely different attitude than the one he had shown before.


    "Graham....It''s done.....The deal.....You slept...Haha....", his words made Graham rub his nose awkwardly.


    Viona yawned as she stretched her bodyzily.


    "Even I''m feeling sleepy now. By the way, when are we supposed to go there?"


    Oberon sniffed the rings on his fingers as he let out an aggressive breath.


    "We should do it soon. I can''t wait to test out my new babies..."


    As Graham took afortable seat on his chair, Mr.Dealer walked over to sit on the chair Howard was previously sitting on as he narrowed his eyes.


    "Not yet. We''ll have to wait for the perfect chance. Just like how we waited for Howard. Getting impatient will only fail us."


    All that happened today, from Howard arriving here, making a deal, and letting these other four join, was all within Mr.Dealer''s ns.


    He had already started devising ns and thinking of all the possibilities from the time the dark guilds were brought into the picture in Edenmont City.


    ''I won''t make it easy for you....'', he thought as he narrowed his eyes, hiding the madness and anger that was behind his calm facade.


    ''.....I swear.''


    *****


    Edenmont Dungeon.


    The cavern tunnel reeked of blood and dust as huge spider corpsesy unconscious in a pool of their own blood.


    Deep within the tunnel amongst the dead bodies, a boy with silver hair sat on a rock holding his sword tight in his grip, his clothes smeared with the monster''s blood.


    "Haaa....haaa....", Felix gasped as his body was at its limits from the bloodbath he had caused in here.


    As there wasn''t much time left for the skill Battlefield Awareness, he had pushed his body to fight and kill until there were no more monsters around him, making him exhausted.


    But there was still an unhealthy and weird unsatisfied look on his face as he gazed into the air.


    [Skill Points: 4110.]


    ''I killed around 13 of these spiders and it''s still just this much? This isn''t enough...I need... more....''


    Felix slowly stood up with the help of his sword, using another skill to help him.


    ''Terra Drain.''


    He stood there for a few minutes, allowing the energy from the earth to replenish his strength and stamina.


    When he felt like he could start fighting again, Felix stopped and turned to look at the dark tunnel ahead.


    ''Time to find some more monsters...''

 Chapter 149 A Grave Situation.

    149 A Grave Situation.


    Just as Felix was about to take a step forward in hopes of finding more monsters to kill, a relieved voice called out to him from behind, making hime back to his senses.


    "Felix, wait! Are you fine?"


    Turning around, he found Roven sprinting towards him with a confused and relieved face.


    Felix took a deep breath and hit his forehead as he hadpletely forgotten about his teammate and how he had wanted to keep him safe.


    "I''m fine, Roven. What about you? Are you hurt anywhere? I''m sorry I left your side even though we''re on the same team."


    Shaking his head, Roven sighed as he smiled wryly.


    "I''m perfectly fine, don''t worry. With Sir Evan by our side, nobody got hurt back there. Also, I''ve gotten used to having problematic teammates, so there''s no need to apologise..."


    Felix just scratched his head awkwardly at that, but Roven asked again in confusion.


    "By the way, aren''t all the monsters dead here? Why were you going deeper then?", he pointed at the dark tunnel ahead.


    Felix, who had given in to his desires back then, could only lie with a straight face as he shrugged.


    "I was just making sure there weren''t any monsters left alive. You know, it wouldn''t be wise to leave a survivor that may bring back another hoard for revenge...."


    Roven nodded as he agreed with him, but then suggested as his eyes lit up.


    "Wait-... Wasn''t there an Earth-based detection spell you said you had? Why don''t you try it? Maybe it''ll be quicker that way."


    Felix froze for a second as he realized he had forgotten he could do that, and twitched his lips in self-deprecation.


    ''Dammit! I was so lost in hunting monsters that it even made me stop using my brain....''


    Giving a forced smile, Felix nodded at Roven.


    "You''re right. Let me try doing that."


    Turning around to face the dark tunnel, Felix pretended to use a spell as he turned on his Map skill.


    Roven nced at him curiously while Felix stared hard at the map with concentration.


    A few secondster, he raised his brow as he saw a single red dot moving towards him from ahead.


    "Hmmm.....there seems to be a single monster moving towards us at this moment. Let me kill this one too before we head back to others.", he said.


    Roven nodded as he gripped his sword with a determined smile.


    "I''ll help you out. I know I''m weak, but I can at least act like bait to give you a good strike."


    Seeing the unhesitating look in Roven''s eyes, Felix nodded as he smiled.


    "Sure. We can take this one out together."


    As the both of them gripped their swords, they turned to stare at the dark tunnel before slowly walking forward.


    Felix suddenly asked curiously as he remembered something.


    "Oh right! That purple-haired girl...what was her name again? Is she...um...alright?"


    He felt a bit sorry for her as he had tricked her into helping him and took out almost all of the Rank 2 Deadly Spiders.


    But there wasn''t any other option for him as he only grew stronger from obtaining skill points by killing the monsters, making him a better choice to be the one to kill thempared to her.


    Roven had a weird look on his face as he responded unsurely.


    "Um...her name''s Selena. As for your question....well, I''m not so sure myself but I don''t think she''s in her right mind back there."


    Felix almost staggered as he felt more pity for her.


    "I don''t think you''re wrong there. Hmm...maybe she''s just a sensitive person I guess...."


    If Selena was here and heard what he said about her, she would have lost her mind in pure anger.


    Roven chuckled and joked as he shook his head.


    "Or maybe it''s you who made trouble for her, just like how you, Steve and Eric do every time."


    Felix grumbled as he looked at Roven with an offended expression.


    "Oh please, Roven. Don''t lump me with those two. I''m clearly smarter than the-"


    Felix suddenly paused his words as he saw Roven widening his eyes in terror and freezing on the spot.


    Unknowingly, he felt a shiver run down his spine as he slowly turned to look back at the dark tunnel ahead.


    "...gulp."


    Felix took a hard gulp in fear as he peered at the abomination of a huge red spider standing at the other end of the tunnel.


    The huge spider looked simr in shape to the previous Rank 2 Deadly Spiders, but it was so huge that itpletely fitted the entire tunnel, with eyes covering every part of its red-coloured round main body.


    ''Shit!''


    Felix knew they were in serious trouble as he could feel the unrestrained bloodlust from the spider, who was most likely at the Rank 3.


    He tried to calm himself down thinking that the monster was far away and they could still run, whispering to Roven with a low voice.


    "...don''t make any loud sounds or sudden movements, Roven. It''ll jump at us if we do so. Just hear me out, I have a n."


    Roven who was feeling a bit hard to breathe nodded subtly as he whispered back.


    "...w-what do we do?"


    With every passing second being stared at by the Rank 3 Deadly Spider, he was feeling like he was just a moment away from death. But Felix''s presence assured him a bit, who he thought had many tricks up his sleeves, hopefully.


    ''Yeah, Shit! What the hell do we do?!''


    Felix knew he could escape from the monster alone if he wanted, but he didn''t want Roven to die, as he was the reason the boy was in this situation.


    Atst, only one crazy n entered his mind as he turned decisive.


    ''Guess I''ll have to just fight it then...''


    Thinking for a few seconds as he was still in a staringpetition with the spider, Felix whispered to Roven again.


    "...listen. At the count of three, I''ll use a few spells to distract it while you run away and notify Sir Evan and the others. Got it?"


    Roven nodded but then frowned as he replied with slight anger.


    "...but then what about you? You want me to run away and leave you here?"


    Felix became silent for a few seconds before he gave up convincing and said inly.


    "...If you act ording to my n, then we may both survive. But if you don''t, then both of us will die. The choice is yours now."


    Hearing his words, Roven turned silent as he gritted his teeth, feeling dejected for being so weak.


    "A...Alright. I''ll do as you say."


    Felix sighed inwardly for being a bit rude, but he didn''t have the luxury to waste time currently due to the threat they were facing.


    With his focus turning back towards the Rank 3 Deadly Spider, Felix took a deep breath as he started the countdown.


    "Get ready.....1."


    "....2...."


    Felix slowly bent down a little to move as he turned to look at Roven who did the same.


    "..and.....3!!"


    Right on time, both Felix and Roven rushed in opposite directions without hesitation.


    "Dust st! Quicksand!"


    Felix used his skills towards the Rank 3 Deadly Spider to take its attention and buy some time, while Roven hurried at his fastest speed to notify the others and bring help back.


    Meanwhile, the Rank 3 Deadly Spider remained in its position as it stared at Felix with several of its eyes, finding the situation very amusing.


    Seeing that the monster was not attacking him, Felix couldn''t help but sigh in relief as the mini dust storm had covered almost the entire tunnel ahead of him, reducing the visibility.


    The ground in front of him was also turning soft, raising his hopes of getting out of this mess as it would buy him more time.


    ''Should I run away now?....'', he thought as he couldn''t see the spider anymore.


    "Whoosh!" n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Unfortunately.....it seemed escape was never an option, as a dark shadow abruptly towered before him after jumping over the quicksand from the ceiling.


    Felix widened his eyes in panic as he saw the reddish ck pointy legs of the Rank 3 Deadly Spider stabbing towards him.


    ''Shit!''


    He quickly moved to dodge the attack with an Agility Burst as he retreated behind, but the attack was quicker than him, so he instinctively raised his sword to block the iing stab.


    The Spider''s leg made contact with his sword and the force behind the attack pushed him back without any resistance.


    "Kughh!!"


    Felix flew through the air and hit the ground hard a few meters away, the impact breaking several of his bones as he spurted out blood.


    Despite the pain he was getting from several of his body parts, Felix grimaced and hurriedly stood back up to his feet.


    "That hurts....you bitch!", he raised his sword with both of his hands and rushed towards the spider in anger.


    "Earth Spikes! Ratio Technique!"


    A number of spikes attacked the Rank 3 Deadly Spider as they emerged from the ground, and a clear visible red line appeared on its head making Felix grin at the chance.


    "Agility Burst!"


    With the sudden increase in his speed, he shed off ahead to sh against the spider who was about to get hit by the earth spikes.


    But then, a scene before his eyes made him pause in his tracks in shock.


    "KREEIIKKHH!!!"


    The Rank 3 Deadly Spider seemed to have gotten annoyed at the sharp spikes pointing at it as it let out a high-pitched screech from its mouth, which destroyed all the earth spikes into dust.


    "KREEIKHH!!"


    It continued screeching as Felix covered his ears with a stunned face, quickly thinking of a solution in his mind to handle the situation.


    ''Parabolic Hearing!''


    Almost suddenly, the terrible screeching sound died down as Felix narrowed his eyes at the spider and gasped roughly.


    ''I was wrong. These Deadly Spider''s aren''t that weak.....I just hadn''t met a stronger one.''


    As he cautiously nced at the spider which had stopped screeching and was staring at him intently, Felix understood that he had no chance against it with his current strength.


    ''Should I escape now?....or should I create a new skill?''


    Felix pondered, but only for a few seconds as the spider suddenly moved towards him with its several legs targeting him, even opening its mouth to throw out acid.


    ''Shit shit shit!!!''


    As he couldn''t dodge or block the several attacks at once, Felix panicked but then quickly took out something from his shoulder bag.


    Grabbing four tiny rectangr pieces of paper between his fingers, he threw them at his sword in a hurry and raised it just when the spider''s attacks were a meter away.


    "Barrier of the Five Elements!"


    A sh of several colours appeared on his sword as a dome-shaped barrier hovered around him with five talismans floating around.


    The attacks from the Rank 3 Deadly Spidernded on him exactly when the dome barrier formed from the tip of his sword, blocking every one of them from harming him.


    The spider jolted a few steps back at the sudden appearance of the barrier, but then it started to go crazy as it pounded the barrier with its sharp legs.


    It even bit on the barrier and spat its strong acid, but the barrier continued standing there unfazed.


    However, it was only Felix who truly knew the limit of the barrier treasure as he could see the glow on the five talismans getting dimmer.


    ''I''m fucked...''


    Creation is hard, cheer me up! VOTE for me!Have some idea about my story? Comment it and let me know.


    Seraphinn_

 Chapter 150 A Rank 3 Monster.

    150 A Rank 3 Monster.


    Felix stood within the dome barrier summoned by the Elemental Talismans, blocking all the attacks from the Rank 3 Deadly Spider.


    But from the continuous attacks he was facing, the five talismans were getting rapidly worn out.


    ''I should escape now!'', was the only thing he could think of.


    Without any hesitation, Felix used the skill that had saved him from many situations.


    ''Earth Swimming!''


    His legs started to sink into the ground slowly, while he continued to keep his sword raised for keeping the barrier on.


    As his torso reached the ground, Felix heard a cracking sound that made the colour of his face go pale.


    ''Oh fuck....''


    The barrier covering his body broke apart into several parts when the Spider stabbed with four of its legs, and the five talismans floating around him started falling onto the ground.


    "Whoosh!"


    He saw the spider attacking him from four different directions with its legs, it had even opened its mouth to shoot its acid at him.


    Holding the sword which could block only one of those attacks, Felix was in no position to even move from the spot as half of his body was into the ground and the other half outside.


    As the four sharp legs loomed over his vision like the scythe of a death god, Felix became stunned to take any action.


    The only thought remaining in his mind was the consequences of getting stabbed by the unavoidable attacks that he was facing,


    Fortunately, a bright light suddenly engulfed the tunnel from behind him, followed by a loud shout.


    "Radiant Lance!!"


    The Rank 3 Deadly Spider froze in surprise as the several eyes on its body narrowed at the zing light moving towards it from afar.


    It only took less than a second for the monster to realize that its life was in danger, forcing it to fall back from its position as it stopped attacking Felix.


    "KRIEIEEHKKKHH!!"


    The spider screeched in extreme wrath as a thick concentrated rod-like arrow surrounded by pure white-colored mana flew towards it with urate precision.


    Felix, who thought he was about to die, felt a powerful force of energy arriving near him before he saw a glowingnce whiz past his right shoulder from behind and shoot toward the spider.


    "What-!?"


    The entire process took only a few seconds as Felix escaped from his imminent death and saw the spider being struck down by the powerfulnce-shaped arrow of the light attribute.


    "KRIEKHHH!!"


    The Rank 3 Deadly Spider tried dodging the attack, but as if thence had eyes of its own, it changed its trajectory during motion and pierced into the spider''s body, cutting off two of its legs and a part of its left abdomen.


    Turning around in confusion, Felix saw that half of his scouting team hade to save him.


    With Sir Evan at the front, who was breathless, Roven looking concerned, and Selena....with a weird expression, the scouting team including the others hurriedly rushed towards him.


    "Huff...Everyone! At your counter positions! Now!", Evan ordered while looking a bit pale after using 40% of his energy reserves in that one attack.


    At his orders, everyone moved without hesitation, even Felix quickly recovered himself from the shock and stood at his position in a defensive stance.


    The Rank 3 Deadly Spider looked at the damage it had received and red at the humans that stood in a strict formation before it.


    "Can you fight, Felix?", Evan asked seriously with a hint of concern. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    He had wanted to ask the boy if he was hurt, but knowing it would demoralize the team and unsettle their nerves, he wisely chose his words differently.


    Taking a deep breath, Felix eyed the monster in front of them with a grave face and narrowed his eyes.


    "I can."


    Selena who was standing beside looked at the change of emotions in his eyes and raised the corner of her lips.


    ''Interesting....''


    She knew more than anyone how it was to feel yourself being one step closer to death, as she had experienced so during many of her lone missions.


    Roven nced at Felix in concern but didn''t voice out anything as he knew the situation was tense.


    "The spider is injured and all alone, but it''s still at the Rank 3." Evan muttered calmly, "It has the Sharp Screech and Acid Rain ability which are dangerous. So be careful of it."


    "Also, the Rank 1''s do not need to participate in this fight.", he said as Felix furrowed his brows while the others let out a relieved breath.


    "But I-", Felix tried convincing him when the man continued with a smile.


    "Although I''ll be counting on you, Felix."


    His words made the boy pause, who then nodded with a serious face.


    "Alright then. As soon as the spider moves, we split up. Rank 1s handle the rear and clean up the leftover spiders. The rest stick to the counter strategy. Understood?"


    Everyone nodded gravely and acknowledged him as they stood fixed at their spots, waiting for the monster to make its move.


    A few more seconds passed by as the two sides stood against each other in a standoff.


    Seeing that the humans were not doing anything, the Rank 3 Deadly Spider couldn''t hold itself back any longer as it climbed on the wall and advanced towards them angrily from the side.


    "Now!", Evan ordered loudly.


    Six out of eleven members of the team quickly turned around and retreated backwards.


    Roven, who was among them, gave ast intense nce at Felix as he ran away, feeling dejected and helpless that he couldn''t join him in fighting the spider.


    ''Why am I so weak....'', Roven sighed.


    On the other hand, including Evan, Selena and Felix, there were two other Rank 2 team members, a thin Swordsman named Leon and a muscr Shieldbearer named Keith, left to handle the Rank 3 Deadly Spider.


    As the monster neared them, the five swiftly moved in tandem as they took a battle formation; Evan at the rear, Keith at the front and the other three in a triangr position in the middle.


    "KREIKKHIRKK!!!"


    Now that the huge red spider had lost two of its legs, it was slowerpared to before when Felix had gone against it, but it had instead turned more crazier in return.


    The spider crashed into their formation as Keith raised his shield to block, a glow appearing on his body as he was forced to take a few steps back.


    Simrly, the three damage dealers followed right then as they rushed ahead and attacked with their weapons and spells.


    "Dominic Chains!"


    "Earth spikes!"


    "Razor Strike!"


    The joint attacksunched towards the spider were easily halted as it let out a sharp screech which blew them away.


    "KKRRIIEHRKKKKHH!!!"


    The earth spikes broke apart before they could emerge, the metallic chains were flung away and the sword attacks couldn''t even touch the spider.


    "What!?"


    "No way..."


    Selena and Leon were stunned speechless at the difference in power, while Felix remained silent as he nced at the monster thoughtfully.


    The spider stepped around in anger as it started attacking using its legs, all the while throwing acids in the air.


    "Get away!", Evan shouted as the five of them separated to avoid getting shot by the acid.


    After dodging the acid rain that could melt the ground by a few centimetres, the five of them moved about and surrounded the spider from different directions.


    The Rank 3 Deadly Spider knew that Evan was the most dangerous among them, so it angrily jumped towards him.


    "Attack!"


    With the spider''s attention diverting towards him, the other four made use of this chance as they rushed to attack.


    But before they could arrive, Evan faced against the monster which had appeared right above him.


    "Luminous Darts!"


    Evan took out a few triangr objects from his pocket and scattered them around him, which uponnding on the ground shined in a bright mixture of colourful rays.


    "KRIEHKKHH!!"


    The spider having many eyes on its body screeched in wrath as it narrowed its eyes and paused for a second.


    At that chance, Felix and the other three jumped upon it from behind, before unleashing their attacks on it as it had be stunned.


    "Assault Impact!"


    "Lunar Ironfall!"


    "Razor Strike!"


    "Shield Bash!!"


    Four attacks from different directions were targeted on the spider''s body which stood immobilised in its position.


    Just as their joint attacks were about tond on the spider, they heard an ear-piercing screech that made their brains go nk.


    The four of them felt a buzz ringing inside their heads as they suddenly paused in the air, unable to move their bodies as they fell down helplessly.


    ''Shit! We lost a very good chance!''


    Felix gritted his teeth when his mind quickly calmed down due to his passive skills, as he maneuvered his body andnded on the ground, unlike the others who tumbled a bit.


    "No! Get away!!"


    Evan shouted anxiously all of a sudden, raising the tension in the air as the four reacted.


    But before they could even move, two thick and long ck legs of the Rank 3 Deadly Spider pierced through the air and attacked the two of them.


    On the opposite side of the spider''s two scythe-like legs stood Keith, the Shieldbearer, who had his shield always raised in defence, and then there was Felix who felt his heart pound faster.


    ''Fuck! Not again....''


    As he eyed the pointy leg stab towards him, he hurriedly stepped back with an Agility Burst and cast a few Earth Spikes between him and the attack.


    ''Earth Spikes!!''


    His efforts seemed to have worked as the spikes quickly emerged within seconds and made contact with the spider''s leg, creating a small wall in front of him.


    But before he could sigh in relief, his eyes widened in shock as the spikes shattered apart and the spider''s leg pierced straight through it.


    ''Oh.....I remember it...'',


    At that moment while looking at the iing attack, Felix remembered it was the same leg of the spider which had tried to kill him previously.


    It was a ridiculous thing to be thinking about when you were about to die, but Felix knew.....that he couldn''t do anything in that few seconds to save himself.


    A clinking sound echoed in his ears before the spider''s leg could reach him, and then something shined at the corner of his vision which quickly moved towards him.


    "Swoosh!"


    Time returned to normal as the spider''s leg suddenly paused a few inches away from his chest, now with a metallic chain coiled around it which trembled to contain the attack.


    "Ghah-"


    Felix gasped as he looked at Selena standing behind the spider, who was struggling to hold onto her metallic chains which stopped the spider''s attack.


    He realized that she had saved him from death, while he couldn''t do anything to save himself.


    On the other hand, Keith had blocked the attack and rolled down back on the ground due to the force of the attack, but he didn''t seem to be injured much.


    The Rank 3 Deadly Spider saw that its attack wasn''t able to hurt the humans, making it angry as it thought to go frenzy and attack them without any constraints.


    Suddenly, the tunnel brightened and everyone including the Spider turned to look at the source of the light, where Evan was pulling back the string of his bow.


    "Glorious Impact!!"


    A huge sphere of dense white energy gathered at his arrow spot, which left the bow in a zap and flew towards the spider.


    The huge sphere-like attack hit the spider who couldn''t dodge the quick light-attributed shot, which pushed it off from the ground and hurled it a dozen meters away.


    Selena who had let go of the metal chain breathed tiredly. Felix and others gathered around her while remaining cautious.


    "Thanks....", Felix muttered gratefully as he stood beside her.


    Selena paused for a moment and nodded, before she turned to look at the spider that had been pushed away from them, which gave them some time to breathe.


    "This isn''t working. We''ll have to change the way we fight, or else we''re going to die here....", Leon urged seriously.


    Evan nodded with a grave face as he responded.


    "I can severely wound that monster if I send another of my Radiant Lance attack. But it''ll take time for that attack to get ready, until then you guys will have to keep it busy. Can you do that?"


    They frowned upon hearing it, before reluctantly nodding as there was no other option left for them.


    Meanwhile, Felix finally had some time to gather his thoughts and calm his mind, which started to think of a way to help their situation.


    ''This is it.....I''ll have to create abat skill now.''


    Creation is hard, cheer me up! VOTE for me!Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!


    Seraphinn_


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