《Solo Player Arvin》 Chapter 1 - Prologue This chapter is sort of my notes that I wrote for the main character. But I molded them in such a way that one could understand the personality of the main character and his life back on earth. FYI if anyone wants to skip this chapter then they can. This chapter does not have any effect on the story... ?? ..................................................... Since his childhood, Arvin was different from normal people. When he was just 1 year old he started speaking. Children of his age would usually start by speaking gibberish and then they would grasp thenguage. Then they will start speaking. But Arvin was different from them. He started speaking properly since he was just 1 year old. This happened because he was given an ability that in the scientific world is eidetic memory. Commonly known as photographic memory. It is an ability in which a person can recall an image from memory with high precision for a brief period after seeing it only once. So learning anguage was very easy for him. Thus he was able to speak since he was just 1 year old. People think that having Eidetic memory is a gift. And to some extent it was true. But people who have eidetic memory know better that it more like a curse than a blessing. With such high learning capabilities, a person grows mature early than his age. After all, they grasp knowledge like a sponge absorbs water. That makes them more intelligent than children of their age group. Arvin was born an orphan. He didn''t know what happened to his parents. The first memory that he could ever remember was his orphanage. There he grew up with children of various age groups. All the children of that orphanage used to go same government school. And you know what would happen when an IQ of a 10-year-old boy ispared with a 5-year-old boy¡­.Things get messy. People around Arvin already had started noticing that the boy''s intellect was on another level. Which made children older than him very jealous. After all, he had the attention of every caretaker of the orphanage and teachers of the school. Slowly the other children of the Orphanage started feeling that he was the heavenly genius that came to earth just to mock people that are inferior to him. When Arvin was young around 5-6 years he had alreadypleted his studies till 6th standard. Which was a very big achievement in itself. Seeing this achievement the principal of the government school sends a letter to his old friend. He told him about Arvin and his genius aplishments. That letter was a blessing as well as a curse for Arvin. It was a blessing as after that letter was passed to few people led Arvin to win a schrship in a very prestigious school in Mumbai. Arvin received a brand new school uniform, brand new shoes, school bags, and many more items. Brand new items like those pushed the jealousy of the children to a whole new level. And that was the start of the Arvin oppression by bullying¡­ Kids started bullying him for no proper reason at all. Sometimes someone would tear up all of his notebooks and textbooks. Sometimes he would find his bag flushed down the toilet. Arvin knew about the people that were responsible for these things. But he couldn''t do anything about this... It was not like he was afraid of them. He wanted to retaliate properly. But his retaliation didn''t change the fact that at the end of the day he lived with those people. Comining about his bullies with the higher-ups of the orphanage won''t do him any good either. They will just give them a fair warning and they would be done this matter. No one could have saved him from this torment. It was pretty difficult for him to survive in the orphanage. But he endured and survived. He thought that maybe his new school would be better. But that was just a delusion. In his new school children from the elite societiese and gain knowledge. On the other there he was. A street rat. Who cant even afford a proper uniform. Surrounded by bullies and thugs, Arvin struggled. But with his intelligence, he was making something out of his life. He was about to be Graduated from the top college of India, he might have been a sessful person in the future¡­ But it seemed like destiny had stored something else for him¡­. Chapter 2 - -1 The great forest of Kalgan is a vast forest on the 1st floor. It is filled with trees that could be said to be older than the age apocalypse. The great forest is filled with various exotic nts and animals. Kalgan forest could be said a forest that is the biggest natural resource on the 1st floor. Every day various adventurers and mercenary goes to the forest either to hunt animals or in search of some rare herb. The forest had so many hidden treasures that it is said that Kalgan forest is a dragon''s den. It is filled with treasures but also with danger¡­ Just beside the forest are the hilly grasnds. Locals usually use them as herding grounds. Although it is a dangerous area, still with an abundance supply of mana from the Kalgan forest the grass that grows there is very nutritious which is great for animals. And most of the time adventurers patrol that area to hunt for any wild animals. So it is a pretty safe ce.?? Sun was high in the sky. A cold breeze was flowing from the forest. The grass of the hilly areas danced as the breeze passed them by. It was a magnificent scene... Just up the highest hill near the Kalgan forest, a boy was lying on the grass. His eyes were closed. One could assume that he was asleep. He had a brown skin tone with short ck hair. He a big scar on the right side of his face. That scar looked like a burn mark. The burn mark had ruined the right side cheek of the boy. He was wearing a ck color shirt with tiny ck boxers. The boy looked like that he was sleeping peacefully when a certain small dragonfly flew past that boy''s ears, then that boy showed the signs of waking up. As that boy woke up he first felt the fresh breeze that kissed his face. Then he felt the soft grass that he was lying on. It was then the boy realized that he was in an unknown ce. He abruptly got up. He opened his eyes wide open. He was astonished by the scene that he was witnessing. He had only seen this type of beautiful scenery in wallpapers. Now he was witnessing it. But out of blue, the beautiful scene was interrupted by a small message-shaped icon that suddenly manifested itself in front of him. That boy was surprised by the message icon. He had never seen anything like this before¡­ First of all, he was now in an unknown ce. And now sudden emergence of this message icon. That boy knew that this was not a dream as he could feel the cold breeze flowing while the soft grass beneath him was undoubtedly real. Confuse about what was happening that boy started to think about thest thing that he remembers. He remembered his name. His name was Arvin. Thest thing he remembered was that he was making cup noodles in his dorm room. He was working on a project that he needed to submit by this week''s end. And that was it. That was it. Other than that he didn''t remember anything else. He didn''t remember anything that could connect him about what he was doing here. And what is this ce? Confuse about what to do next, Arvin raised his hands to touch the message icon that he could see. As soon as he touched the icon another blue screen opened in front of him¡­. ...¡­.. Wee to Yggdrasil!! Congrattions! You have been chosen to be a yer in the magnificent world of Yggdrasil. Survive and explore the world to the fullest and you will be able to achieve everything in the world. All The Best! .... As Arvin looked at the message that he received he became confused¡­. ''What is this message? What is Yggdrasil? If I remember correctly then Yggdrasil was supposed to be part of Norse mythology? So what does that mean? Where am I?'' questions like that came rushing into Arvin''s mind. He didn''t understand the situation he was in. After contemting the situation that he was in right now, Arvin got up. He decided that he should first find where he was. Then only he could understand the situation that he was in. Then he could make ns for the future. As Arvin got up he noticed that he was bare feet. The soft grass tickled his feet. As he felt ticklish in his feet he thought that this ce isn''t so bad. While limping he came down the hill. He knew that it would be dangerous for a cripple like him to go into a forest-like area. So started walking opposite the forest. The refreshing air that was flowing by him made him feel refreshed. He enjoyed the scenery that he saw while walking. His surrounding was so beautiful that for a moment he even considered to live here for forever. Enjoying scenery here and there he eventually came across a human settlement. From a distance when he saw a human settlement he was amazed. He then slowly started walking towards the city. As he got closer to the city he noticed that was a road leading to the city. The road was a dirt road but it was surprisingly t. It was like this road was naturally formed. Arvin has never seen or heard about a road like this¡­ When Arvin stepped on the road he felt the road from his bare feet. Surpirinsggly the road was soft. Arvin then used his toes to dig into the road. Then he took some dirt to see what kind of soil was this. It was then he saw an unbelievable scene. The small hold that he made from his toes was magically filled again. Arvin ignored its surroundings and deeply started thinking about the method from which this road was made. ording to logic, it was almost impossible to make a road this t with earth. Curiously he inspected the road for a minute or two. When he was not able to uncover anything, then he just moved on. He thought that he must investigate this road further as it could be a profitable investment in the future¡­ As Arvin got closer to the settlement, he noticed this settlement was a big city. As he got closer he noticed that city was surrounded by white color walls. The walls seemed that they were at least 30 feet tall. Arvin noticed that few men were patrolling that the top of the wall. All the men that were patrolling were wearing white chest color armor. Those soldiers were also a knight''s helmet with a white color feather on the top. Those helmets looked exactly like helmets that spartans used to wear during ancient times. Expect these helmets are white. As Arvin was looking at everything curiously, his concentration broke when he heard a very terrifying noise¡­ Screeh!!!!! Arvin looked up and there it was. When he looked up and saw what had made that noise he lost his cool. Up above him was flock flying by the city. The size of those birds was very abnormal. He knew that those birds were far up in the sky. But still, they looked humongous from where he was standing. That meant that the real size of those birds would be¡­ The birds were red. Arvin could see that they all had golden colors like an eagle. Their beak was ck like that of a hawk. They looked like a hawk but they were red and were humongous. When he thought about the size of those birds it sent a shivered down his spine. But as he was looking at the sky he noticed another weird thing. There was no sun in the sky. He could see everything around him. He could see trees were casting shadows, while he was also casting a shadow. But still, he could not see the sun. Then where is the lighting from? He looked again in the sky. He thought he was being delusional. ording to thews of physics, there must be a sun in the sky. But he was not able to find it. As Arvin was looking at the sky he noticed another peculiarity. There was just a shade but if one looks carefully then he/she might notice it. The blue color of the sky was hiding it well, but if one look carefully one would notice that there wasnd behind that blue curtain of sly. He could notice it. It seemed that he was underground. And the ground above him was hidden by a blue color hue which acted as a camouge¡­ As Arvin was thinking about the birds and about the possibility of him being underground he noticed that a group of people was heading his way. They were all being lead by a burly man with the physique of a wrestler. He was bald and have a slim mustache on his face. He looked like a barbarian as he was not wearing anything above. He was bare-chested. While down below he was wearing leather pants. He looked very weird to Arvin. But he couldn''tin because he was wearing a ck shirt and trousers. As the bald man noticed Arvin, he came running towards him. When he got close to Arvin he said¡­ "Wee to Yggdrasil Earthling!" Chapter 3 - -2 "Wee to Yggdrasil Earthling!" The bald man said while running towards Arvin. While he was running he was waving his hands towards Arvin like an idiot. Arvin on the other hand was confused¡­ Arvin has an ability called eidetic memory. Commonly known as photographic memory. It is an ability in which a person can recall an image from memory with high precision for a brief period after seeing it only once. With such high learning capabilities, a person grows mature earlier than his age group. After all, they grasp knowledge like a sponge absorbs water. That makes them more intelligent than children of their age group. ?? This ability also helps him with astonishing analyzing speed. His brain could analyze various data with speed and uracy that can make aputer look like a kid in front of him. When the bald man was running towards Arvin he noticed that man spoke a foreignnguage. But strangely he was able to understand every word that he said. Arvin has never heard thisnguage before in his life. Then how could he understand thisnguage? When the bald man came close to Arvin, he saw the big burn mark on the face of the kid in front of him. He was astonished by the mark, but then he noticed the posture of the kid in front of him. The kid''s whole body was leaning towards the right. It was like that this kid was giving all his weight to his right leg. But why would he do that? Unless he was cripple. ''Ugly and cripple. Fuck! Why I am so unlucky.'' Bald man inwardly thought. Still, with a big fake smile on his face, he bowed in front of the boy and said¡­ "Nice to meet you kid. My name is Alman." That bald man said. Then that bald man raised his body and looked at the boy in front of him. He then said¡­ "You must be confused. What is happening to me? What is this ce? Various questions like this should be swarming in your brain. Don''t worry. Follow me, and I will take you to orientation. It is totally up to you whether you want to attend the orientation or not. You can join the group that is behind me if you decide to join me in orientation.." Alman said. Then he pointed to the people that were following him. Arvin looked at the people that were following him. In the group some were male and some were females. Some were wearing a business suit while some were wearing pajamas. But he analyzed straightforwardly that these people all have the same expression on their faces. That was despair. He saw that some people have blood on their clothes. Some of them had w marks on their body. Arvin didn''t know what happened to them. When he recalled the big birds that he saw a while ago and when he saw that despair on these people''s faces, he had a bad premonition. While Arvin was thinking about what to do next, Alman had already moved on. Following him, a group of people has also passed by him. Arvin then came up with a decision¡­ ''For now, I am in an unknown situation. An orientation might help me understand a few things. I should follow them.'' Arvin thought¡­ ...¡­ Soon Arvin and the group of people were escorted towards a small wooden tform near the city walls. It was a temporary tform. Alman the bald guy escorting people of Earth from earlier ran towards the tform and ran towards the stage. As he got on the stage like a politician he started giving a speech¡­ "Hello everyone! My name is man. I will be taking your orientation today¡­ First of all, don''t be shy guys, sit down. There is green and cool grass beneath you. Please everyone sit down. Then all your orientation will be started¡­" Alman said while gesturing everyone to sit down¡­. Most people sat down on the grass. Arvin could see that these people were very exhausted. He didn''t know what they had gone through, but every one of them was exhausted. He also sat down to hear about the orientation¡­ "First of all, wee to Yggdrasil everyone. This piece ofnd that you see all around you is the 1st floor of Yggdrasil. And yes, I literally mean that you are on the first floor. If you still don''t understand what I am trying to say, then look carefully at the sky¡­" man said. Soon every person that was present there started noticing the sky. After a minute or two, I finally noticed that the sky was filled with blue haze and beyond that blue haze is what appears to be underground soil¡­ "Well, I have been told from earthlings that came before you guys that it is a very strange phenomenon ifpared to Earth. Something like that was not present in the world from where you guys came from. So as you can guess, you are not on Earth anymore¡­." "So where are the hell we are? And how the hell those wolves were so big?" A middle-aged man asked Alman in between. "Well, I was getting to that. And understand this everyone, if next time someone tries to cut me off while I am speaking, I might get angry. And you don''t want to know how I look when I get angry." Alman said with a creepy smile on his face. Then he continued ¡­ "Some of you guys would be thinking ''What am I doing here? I am not supposed to be here? How can I get back to earth''. I am afraid that I don''t have answers to those questions. We just know that around 25 years ago suddenly beings from different worlds starteding out of the Kalgan forest. People that came before you told us that they were from the earth and they also had no clue why or how they came here. For 25 years people that came before you have been traveling around Yggdrasil to find a way back home, but still no results have been found. So, in other words, you guys are stuck here." Alman said with a smile. Soon panic started spreading through the crowd. People started murmuring in between them. Few scared people got up and started screaming at him like this was all his fault. Alman with a big smile started calming them all down. But strangely nobody took a swing at Alman. Which seemed weird to Arvin. Arvin when heard their arguing points he sighed. This situation is a pain in the ass. But then he noticed an abnormality amidst the people that were attending the orientation¡­ He couldn''t understand it. But now he started feeling that he was being watched. It was a weird feeling. It was like the back of his neck was tingling because someone behind was staring at him. Arvin wanted to turn and take a look, but his instinct told him that if he turns around then it would be very dangerous for him. As a kid, he had developed a sort of sixth sense that could tell when someone dangerous was standing behind him or not. Scared he didn''t turn away¡­ "Now about Yggdrasil. Now I will start the real orientation for Yggdrasil. Earthlings have told me about the society that you guys lived in back on earth. But here in Yggdrasil, everything is different¡­ If you guys remember then I have told you guys that this is the 1st floor of Yggdrasil. And I repeat this once again. I don''t mean it figuratively. ording to records of our ancestors, there are around 50 floors in Yggdrasil. Some of you guys have met the monsters that roam in Kalgan forest. Earthling told us that these types of monsters are not present back on earth. But this type of monster is pretty normal around here. We survive on this floor while fighting those monsters. And trust me as a veteran hunter and HTC, I could guarantee you that those monsters are nothing whenpared to monsters that are found deep within the forest. And for those who are confused, HTC means hired taskpleter. It is a job that will be taught in detail if you guys will join groups. Now let me tell you something about the conditions and powers of the 1st floor. There are 7 major cities on the 1st floor. These cities are ruled by 7 different families. Those families are called great families. They are the overlords of the 1st floor. Nothing happened on this floor without them knowing. So, beware of the people belonging to those families. Back on Earth murder was seen as a very serious felony. But here it is a normal thing like breathing air. And I don''t want Earthling like you to die after justing to this ce. As soon as you go inside, I will escort you to God''s pir. After a small ritual there, you will be scouted by different groups of people. If you want more information about this world and its power then join those groups. They will help you to survive in this world as well as they will teach you the customs of this world. That is all for orientation. Now off we go. Let''s go inside and roam around the city and see this wonderful world¡­" Alman said while finishing his orientation. As soon as the orientation was finished everyone got up to enter the city. Arvin also followed their suit. While the group of earthlings was walking towards the city, Arvin noticed that a few groups of men and women who looked like locals of this world came to Alman and started talking to him in hushed voices. Arvin was not able to hear what they were talking about, but he noticed the eyes of these people. They all would take nces towards the group of earthlings and then avert their gazes. He had seen these types of gazes before. He had seen this back at colleges. Few boys back in college would check out girls like this. And from that, he was sure that they were talking about them. More especially, they were checking out selected people of their group¡­ But why? #mystery #editor man Chapter 4 - -3 Arvin looked at the people that were whispering and talking about something with Alman. They were checking all earthlings out like they were some sort of bikini models. He didn''t know whether checking him out is a good thing or a bad thing. But he knew one thing for sure. That guy Alman didn''t tell them about the whole truth of the situation. He had a gut feeling telling that these people are not trustable and he should just run away from here as soon as he gets the chance. There was something fishy about the story that the Alman guy told them. There were so many questions that were bombarding themselves in his mind but he didn''t speak them out loud¡­. ?? He said that they were on the 1st floor of Yggdrasil. But he could not understand the logic of the existence of floors. Why are they even here? And why did they start from the 1st floor and not from any other floor? And the shadiest question of all¡­ Why was he helping other earthlings? That was the most important question of them all¡­ When he met Alman on the road, he came running towards him like Arvin was his lost found brother. He had gathered all these earthlings with him who were following him. But why? He could understand by the clothes and appearance of the people that they encountered some ferocious animal of some sort. That could exin the blood and look of despair in the faces of the people. And the way that they were following Alman meant that he must have saved them¡­ But why? If Alman was a good guy, he could have saved a few people and gotten out of there. But based on the size of the group and based on the fact that he didn''te here with all these people, Arvin spected that these earthlings must have been spawned in different ces. That meant that he deliberately was searching for earthlings. Alone¡­ That is the main point. He went there alone. Not with a group. If people of this world are good and well-mannered people they would have sent a group of people to rescue them from the jungle. They could have saved a lot of people from this. But Alman came alone. When he met with Arvin he came running towards him like Arvin was a lost lottery ticket. As soon as he saw Arvin''s appearance, his enthusiasm changed into that of disgust. He looked at him like he was just trash. But why so? He is supposed to be the good guy, right? So why the look of disdain? Thenes the society that Arvin and other people came to. Based on the ruthless words of Alman, this ce is supposed to be like a world where strength rules. And this is not a democracy where people rule. So if Alman lived in this kind of society then why would he even risk his life to save them. Given this society''s belief, some higher-ups of this society sending a helping hand for them was out of the question. So why did hee here? Arvin didn''t know shit about the situation he was in. He didn''t have enough info about society. He had a feeling that he should not mingle with the people of the city. So, he made his decision. For now, he would follow this group and see what is going to happen next. After that, he would escape with the first chance that he would get. Andst but not least he would put his guard up from now onwards¡­ ......... After talking to strangers, Alman ordered the group to follow him. Soon Alman and the group came to the gates of the city. Whileing into the city, they went through the main gate of the city, which was being guarded by a bunch of soldiers wearing medieval Europe-style armor. Arvin was an intelligent man and he had guts. But what hecked was strength. Arvin knew about his qualities and his bad points. And throughout his life, he may be bullied a lot, but he was never afraid. But today, he felt fear for his life. He didn''t know how or why but as they were going into the city, soldiers at the top of city walls, just looked at the group. Arvin saw them, looked down. As soon they looked down, they started smiling. Then hell was sent loose. Arvin''s body got heavy. A very cold chill ran down his spine, also he started sweating intensely. He could feel dread. And he didn''t know how, but he could feel that this feeling of despair and death. That feeling wasing from someone in front of him. Arvin wanted to look up and see, how and what was doing this? His mind told him that he should look up. But his body told him that he should not look up or otherwise he would die. But that feeling suddenly went away. Arvin regained his senses as soon as the feeling went away. He started looking around. He saw that most of the members of his group were on the ground. They were unconscious. While he and 15-16 people were still standing in their ces. Before he could make sense of the situation about what was happening around here, he heard few peopleughing. Hahaha¡­hahaha Thatugh came from in up above him. When Arvin looked up above him, he saw that those soldiers wereughing, while pointing fingers at Alman.¡­. "Haha¡­ What the hell? Alman you weak mother fuck*er. Look at that, even the cripple was able to withstand your mental attack. This is just hrious¡­." One of the soldiers said whileughing his ass out¡­ But soon one of the people from the earthling group, that withstood the attack, lost his mind. He was wearing a suit. But his zer was torn from the sides as well as his pants were a mess. Although Arvin didn''t have a lot of knowledge of suits, from the looks of it, his suit looked like it used to be a very expensive suit¡­ "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT? Hey Alman, you bastard! What the fuck do you suppose you are doing? Huh? Do you think this is funny? Mother Fucker I will kill you right here and now!" That man shouted. As the soldiers heard what that man was saying, they stoppedughing¡­ "Rx man. This was a test to separate water and oil. You see those bastards down there, they don''t have any potential. They will all die a dog''s death in the future. But you guys on the other hand are different. You will live like a king in the future. Rx man, just rx." Alman said. "Is that supposed to make me calm down?" that man gritted his teeth and asked¡­ "You will know in just a few seconds about what I am talking about. Just chix ande with me. " Alman said. He then looked at the soldiers by the gate and nodded at them. The soldiers nodded back. Soon a toon of soldiers started running towards them. They were followed by some bullock carts. And strangely the animal pulling the cart was normal buffalo. Then those soldiers started gathering the fainted people and started loading them in bullock carts¡­ One of the women that had stayed conscious asked Alman¡­ "Where are they taking them?" she asked in a worried voice. "Somewhere safe. They will first be treated, bathed, and fed then they will be sent to the god''s pir where we are going right now¡­. NOW! Everyone keep following me!" Alman said. So those 16 people started following Alman. During this whole ordeal, Arvin kept looking around for clues. He knew that no one in the world is so selfless. So this so-called test and Alman rescuing all these people could mean one thing. He is doing this from greed and not from the act of goodness¡­ Based on spection, Alman wanted something that only people from the earth have. That would exin all these scenarios. Arvin then looked towards all the people that have survived that had remained conscious. He couldn''t find any simrity in them. They all belong to different genders and have different body types. So the only thing he could think was that they had high mental fortitude. What the main question was what did they possess that Alman wanted desperately? He had gone through all this length, then he could guess that the thing that he wanted must be precious. But the question was what do they possess?... ...¡­. Arvin and his group went through the gates and went into the city. Instantly they were greeted with a magnificent city. Through gates, they wound up in what looked like to be a market of the city. As they were walking by, people on the street pointed at their group. But they all looked at them with a sense of fear. Arvin didn''t know why they were fearing them? Then he wondered what things Alman omitted in his orientation¡­ Arvin looked at the various stalls that were spread on the road that they were in. Those stalls sell all kinds of various types of weird fruits and vegetables. He had never seen those types of vegetables and fruits that were being sold in those stalls. Arvin saw that some stalls were also selling colorful liquids. Some of them also had swords, knives, and bows. Still following Alman their group came deep into the city. And as they got deeper into the city, the market became less crowded and the quality of the shops also increased. In the deepest parts of the city, there were fancy shops with fancier stuff. In the inner parts, people also dressed well and had an attitude in them¡­ Soon while following Alman, he and his group came to a square. It was a very crowded square. Various people with fancy clothing were standing by the side of the square. In Between, the square there was a tall ck monolith. Arvin when saw the monolith, he felt that there was something weird about the monolith. As he saw the monolith he also made a spection that maybe this monolith is God''s tower¡­ #Solo yer Arvin Chapter 5 - -4 As Arvin saw the number of people that have gathered in the square, he instantly started having a bad feeling about what is going to happen. He saw that all the people of the square seemed like they were waiting for them to arrive. Before he could hear people of the square distinctly talking among themselves. But now there was a pin drop silence around the square. Alman then came up to the monolith and stood in front of it. Then he started speaking loudly¡­?? "Now! As everyone is here, you wille one by one and touch this monolith. Don''t worry, it will not harm you or anything. Let''s go then¡­ Come on everyone¡­" Alman said with a smile. And not so surprisingly no one moved from their ces. Everyone was afraid that something might happen to them if they touched the monolith. So no one moved from their position. Arvin too was afraid. But then after 30 sec or so, Alman lost his patience. He came to the man with the costly suit. He then grabbed his shirt and dragged him to the monolith and made him put his hand on it. That man tried to stop, but somehow in front of Alman, his strength didn''t work at all. As soon as the man put his hands on the monolith, the monolith started producing a red haze. That haze then flowed into the man''s body. It took just a few seconds and everything was over. That man stoodpletely harmless in front of the monolith¡­ "See there is nothing to worry about. Come everyone and let''s go. Nothing will happen." Alman said. Arvin on the other hand was observing that suit man. He lookedpletely fine to him. But there was something different about him. He was not able to put a finger on it, but his instincts told him that somehow that man had changed. That red haze had changed something in that man''s body. He was in deep contemting mode when he came back to reality by a cheer of the people of the square. He looked forward and saw that a middle-aged woman was touching the monolith. Instead of a red haze like that suit man, in her case, a monolith produced a purple haze. But the quantity of the haze was far greater than that of that man before her. As soon as the haze fully entered her body, her demeanor also changed. Arvin became curious. He wanted to know what was going on here? And why the hell is that haze? What is that monolith? When the haze enters someone''s body then it changes something in them. But what do they change? Was all this his overthinking or something does happen to our body when haze enters our body¡­ Curious he couldn''t take it any longer. While dragging his crippled leg, he walked up to the monolith. He had first observed those people who had gone before him. They all were fine, so no harm would be done to him if he touches the monolith. So he got to the monolith and touched it¡­ ... As soon as Arvin touched the monolith, his consciousness was transported somewhere else. Arvin soon finds himself, being sucked in suction. He was powerless and was effortlessly sucked in. When he gained consciousness again, he found out that he was in some sort of cold ce. In his life, he has always been poor. So he had never left for any holidays of the sort. He had always wondered what snow would feel like... But he had never thought that he would encounter snow like this. When he gained consciousness he was in a cold ce surrounded by snow everywhere. Cold winds were furiously blowing while hey there in the cold snow¡­ His whole body was shivering from the cold. As he got up on his feet to look around where he was. He was surrounded by darkness and snow. Despite being dark, he was able to make out some sense of his surroundings. He could see that he was in a valley of some sort. Because at a distance he was able to see very big shadows all around him. And that type of shadows could only be caused by mountains¡­ "hiss¡­.What is your name human?¡­hiss". Arvin heard a strange and powerful voice in his head. "Arvin My name is Arvin¡­ Who are you? Where am I?" Arvin asked with a shivering voice. At this time he was cold and also very scared. The voice that resounded in his head felt very ancient and powerful. So he was very scared of the being that this voice belonged to¡­ "Grrr¡­Arvin? That is not the name of a warrior. It sounds like a cowards name¡­Grrr¡­Maybe this was a mistake. He is not a warrior. He is just a fool¡­Grrr" said another voice. This voice was very different from the voice before. But it also was scary like one from before. "Hiss¡­That does not matter. We will do what we have ordered brother. He may be a fool, but if he was chosen then there must be something different about him then rest¡­Hiss¡­ let''s get this over with and send him away. Only the time will tell if he is worthy or not¡­Hiss" "Grr¡­ok brother. Take this power human. If you can be someone powerful in the future then we will meet again. Take this power and show us¡­Grrr¡­ Show us you were worth something. Otherwise, you are just a beggar with a golden bowl¡­Grr¡­" said that voice. Then before Arvin could know it, he was transported back. His body had stopped shivering. But still, he couldn''t help but stop sweating. He looked around and saw that he was lying on a bed of some sort. He looked around and saw that he was in some kind of a small room. Besides his small bed, there was a fruit basket and flowers. He was confused about where he was. But before he could investigate where he was he heard someoneing towards his room. He didn''t know what to do next, so he abruptly lied down once again and closed his eyes. Soon Alman and an old man entered the room. Both of them saw that Alman was still lying on the bed¡­ "This mother fucking cripple ass twit. I swear to god if he costs me money I ughter him like a pig." Alman eximed/ "Calm down Alman. He survived the second test. That means something. Someone will buy him. Eventually." The old man said. "I know. I might get a huge reward for him, but I would still earn something. But that will only happen if this twit wakes up." Alman said. "He will wake up. The doctor said so too. Now let''s go and let him rest. He will still need to sell a few more merchandises. Let''s not waste our time here looking after him. Let''s go back." The old man said. "Fine. But station one man out of the door. I want to know when this kid regains his consciousness." Alman said. "As you wish you are a paranoid freak." "Mark my words you old geezer, being paranoid is a good thing in Yggdrasil. At least you won''t wound up dead afterward¡­" "Yeah yeah. Can we go now?" "Fine let''s go," Alman said and both of them went out of the door. Arvin opened his eyes once again. His heart was beating faster and faster. He was not able to grasp his situation but the word ''merchandise'' gave him enough knowledge to work with¡­ ''Merchandise. Did Alman call me merchandise? Now all of this makes sense. He wanted to trade us for money. That is why he rescued us. The mental fortitude test was a way to test our abilities. If that cold vision was in fact reality then that would mean that those beings that talked to me gave me some sort of powers. And Alman wanted to sell us so that people who will buy us will make use of those powers granted by the monolith. This makes perfect sense now'' Arvin thought. He was now fully aware of his situation. But he got confused about how he should escape from this ce. Alman said that soon he would send a guy to keep an eye on him. So if he has to run away then he has to do something fast. But should he do it? As he was thinking what should be a blue color message board appeared in front of him magically. The magic board said¡­ [Granted permission by GM] [Host have been found] [Binding yer to the system] [Integrating start in 3¡­.2¡­.1¡­0] As soon as the timer turned zero, Arvin was assaulted with severe pain in his head. He thought that he would die from this pain, but the pain quickly vanished as quickly as it came. And soon other messages also started popping in front of him¡­ [System integration sessful] [Host has been bound with the Mischief System] [Connecting to server] [GM has granted ess to Lopt.] [WARNING!!] [An forced mission is been given to the host] [Get out of the clutches of Alman and his goons.] [Mission rewards=????] [Mission penalty=????] #Solo yer Arvin Chapter 6 - -5 WARNING!!] [An forced mission is been given to the host]?? [Get out of the clutches of Alman and his goons.] [Mission rewards=????] [Mission penalty=????] As Arvin saw the information in front of him he got confused by those messages¡­ ''Why was he able to see those messages? How the hell did this happen? And what does that message meant by forced mission? What is going on?'' questions like this started erupting in his brain. But then he calmed himself down. His first and only priority right now was to get out of here as soon as possible. As this was also his mission then if he got out of here he would kill two birds with one arrow. So he pushed all these questions out of his mind and got from his bed. He first went to the window to see where the hell he was. Out of the window, he could see rows of two-story buildings. It was like he was in a township. All the houses looked the same. And the worst part was that he was on the second floor. He wanted to try the door from which Alman hade. But he was afraid that if walks out and someone sees him then all efforts will be worthless. Arvin looked down and saw that below the house was a small alley. That alley was made by embedding stone in the ground. So jumping from the second floor was out of option. It was then he noticed a pipe that wasing from the roof of the house and was going down the alley. As Arvin saw the pipe he had an idea in his brain. It was a risky idea. He thought that he should go down the pipe. But it was a very risky thing to do. After all, he did not know whether the pipe would be able to sustain his weight or not. If he slips down from the pipe then it would be the same as jumping from the second floor. Arvin then started thinking about alternatives. As he was not able to think of any other alternative, he thought it was worth a shot to try the pipe n. So Arvin gulped his saliva and went out of the window¡­ ...¡­. Jonny was a goon of Alman. He had been working with Alman for six years, so he knew the business they were in pretty much in and out. Every 6 months, 500 earthlings from the earth are transported in Yggdrasil in mysterious ways. And then they must find as many earthlings as they can and bring them to the cities. It was a very lucrative job on the 1st floor. And the sole reason for this was because of earthlings. As earthlingse here they are granted exceptional potential by the monoliths. Earthlings just have to touch the monoliths and they will be granted exceptional potential. Some people from earth coined this exceptional potential as ''cheat abilities''. And every human gets them. Jonny had seen the extent of ''cheat abilities''. And they are terrifying. With this exceptional potential, an earthling can master anything he wants. He had seen the best swordsman and a good friend that he knew beaten with a knife by an earthling. And the worst part was that the earthling that beat his friend up was learning swordsmanship for thest 1 year. It was just outrageous if someone thinks about it¡­ A person who is learning swordsmanship for 1 year beating another person in swordsmanship who was a swordsman for thest 13 years. That was the monstrous potential of these so-called earthlings. But soon people started to realize that with this kind of monstrous potential, these earthlings are not a threat but could be valuable assets. So all the big warlords and merchants started raising earthlings. At first, some tried to make earthlings ves by capturing them. But soon they realize that with this kind of potential every human could easily break out of the spell. It would take some time but they will eventually break out of it. Jonny had heard rumors about a spell from which earthlings cannot break out. But it is found on the 40th floor. Brining the spell here alone would cost them so much that it will not be worth their investment. So they started making earthlings partners¡­ Merchants and the nobles decided that it would the best to make humans their partners. They would provide them with food, shelter, money, and woman/man for their allegiance for some time. Within that period no earthling will be able to disobey themands of these people. And after that, they are free to go. It was the safest and most viable option. An earthling had the right to even deny the contract if they wanted. From this merchants and nobles have their never replenishing army while they are also able to nurture earthlings. One might think that it was quite a hefty price to pay. But it is the safest one of them all. After all, making a human enemy will likely cost you more than some coins¡­ Jonny was ordered to look after the crippled boy that had fainted during the god''s blessing ceremony. God''s blessing ceremony is a formal ceremony where earthlings are gathered in the square to touch the monolith. One can guess the potential of an individual by seeing the density of haze that enters the earthling''s body. That is why nobles and rich merchants especiallye to this event. Today''s event was special. People on the 1st floor had discovered that one can specte the potential of a person by testing their mental fortitude. Higher the metal fortitude higher the chance that the earthling will be someone powerful in the future. Salman and his subordinates attack all the earthlings with a mental attack when they enter the city. It is not a harmful attack. But people with weak hearts and weak mental strength usually faints after the attack. This way Alman can distinguish between the people with the best potential and one person who is supposed to be cannon fodder. That cripple that was lying upstairs may be a cripple from earth''s standard, but here he had a chance to be someone powerful. His crippleness could be easily cured by some potions. The same could be said for his face too. But despite that, no one can guarantee his working potential. But Alman had ways from which he would be able to sell for money. That is why Alman was keeping him around. As Jonny got upstairs to look for the cripple he saw thest thing that he expected¡­ The room was empty. #Solo yer Arvin Chapter 7 - -6 Arvin was not a big fan of movies. It could be said that his indifferent views about movies could be rted to his financial situation. Because of his very tight financial situation, he never wasted his time going to movie theaters. That is why he was indifferent about the movies. But that didn''t mean that he had never watched movies. But the sad part was that he had only watched the old Hindi movies that the old caretaker of his orphanage used to watch on his ck and white television. He remembers that those movies always had the same clich¨¦ storyline. The protagonist will fall in love with the female character. That Protagonist would usually be a very good guy but the catch used to be that he is poor. So a female actor''s father wille in the way of their love. During this, the protagonist will meet the female actor secretly while he will sneak into her house. He would climb up the pole that used to lead to her window. ?? In those movies, the male actor used to demonstrate acute agility. He would climb up and down the pole like he was doing this since his childhood. When Arvin used to see that, he would always think¡­ ''This is very easy. I can also do it if I want.'' He used to think. But now as he was climbing down the pole from a second-story house, in another world, all that he could think was that he could not be so wrong about this. He thought that he should be able to do it easily. After all, in the movies, it was shown in such a way that even a normal person might think that it could be done easily. But now, Arvin was able to see reality. The pole was slippery. Hinges were nailed around the pole to keep it in a ce. Arvin used those hinges for support and slowly started climbing down. But it was easier said than done. That pole was not built in such a way that it could support a 40 KG Indian climbing down. Arvin was also fearing from the fact that the pole had started making noises as he was climbing down. But then as he got to the first floor, the pole was not able to take it anymore. A hinge came out of the wall, releasing a piece of the pole. Which in turn led to Arvin falling from the first floor. As it was just the first floor, when Arvin fell, he was not injured gravely. But still, his left leg, which already made him crippled got tilted on impact. Thus causing him a sprain. ''AAHHH!!!'' Arvin screamed from agony. Even without the pain, he was aware of the situation he was in. So, he somehow controlled the intensity of his scream. It was not a scream. But still, it was a scream. Afraid that someone might have heard his scream, he got up abruptly and started walking deep in the web of alleys. While skipping he went deeper in the alleys. Coincidently he soon found a wooden stick. Then with the help of the wooden stick, Arvin started moving deeper and deeper into the alleys. He moved as fast as he could. He would stop from time to time to look back whether someone was following him or not. And soon after walking for around half an hour, he stopped. He stopped in an alley behind a very tall building. Behind, in the alley, an incinerator type of device was attached to the building. Besides that incinerator, there are some stacks of woodying around. Seeing that setup he inferred that this device is some sort of heater. Arvin ignored the device and hid behind the stack of woods beside the incinerator. His left leg was still aching like hell. All this time he simply ignored the pain and avoided looking directly at his leg. He did this as knew he could only examine his wound when he has run far away from trouble. Now was that moment when he had to see his wound¡­ Arvin''s left leg foot has now swelled due to inmmation. His feet have now changed color from brown to blue and purple. Based on the color of his feet he knew that he needed to get help as soon as possible. He knew that it was not a fracture as he was able to move his feet. His feet still ached when he started moving them. But the swelling was the main reason for his concern. Due to an unfortunate ident when he was 15 years old, his left leg was crippled. Because of that he still limps when he walks. And now this happened. He had heard that sometimes a person needs to amputate his/her leg because the infection spreads in their whole limbs. He didn''t want that to happen. ''Should I go back? That Alman guy might be able to help him with this. It is better to be a ve than lose being a cripple all of his life¡­. Wait a F**king second, what am I thinking. Being a ve is the worst. But I don''t want to lose my leg¡­'' Arvin was thinking. He didn''t know what else to do in this situation. He was in a dilemma about what should be his next step. Because his leg needed immediate attention.As he was contemting his next step, a blue color message magically appeared in front of him¡­ [Congrattion onpleting the forced mission] [yer have sessfully run away from Alman and his goons] [Lopt is giving out rewards for this mission.] [Rewards- yer could choose only one of the following items] [1>Unlock Mischief System] [2>God''s Potential booster] Arvin looked at the items with confusion. He didn''t know what to choose. By now he had peace with the fact that he was now in a magical world. And everything was possible. But the rewards that were now disyed in a blue dialog box were making him confused. He didn''t know what he should choose? [Does the host want to see the description of the items disyed?] ''Woah. Was this weird voice able to listen to my thoughts?'' Arvin thought. [Affirmative. I can hear the thoughts of the host] ''Host? Does that mean that you are living inside me?'' Arvin asked. [Yes and no. I am inside you. But I am not a living thing.] ''Then what are you?'' [I am the power granted to you by Lord Lopt.] ''Who is that?'' [He is the heavenly being that created me. He had granted you some powers. And I am here to help to utilize those powers.] ''What powers?'' [Your level is too low to gain ess to those powers.] ''What kind of power are we talking about? You likeser eyes, super strength, fast speed, etc.'' [Something like that.] ''Cool. What kinds of powers do I possess right now?'' [None.] ''That''s a bummer¡­. Tell me about my rewards.'' [Reward- Unlock Mischief System. Description- ????] [Reward-God''s Potential booster. Description- A magical potion that increases the potential of a being who ingests it to another level. As it increases the potential, it simultaneously cleans the body of the person who ingests it from impurities.] ''Wait a F**king second. What is this description? You didn''t give any details about my first reward. So how can Ipare the two rewards'' [That is up to the host.] ''At least tell me something. How can I decide which one to pick?'' [That is up to the host to decide.] ''This mother f**ker. You are a useless piece of sh*t.'' [¡­..] ''This potion. Can it heal me?'' [Yes. It can heal your body''s current wounds as well as past wounds.] ''Wait. What? Can you repeat yourself?'' [It can heal your body''s current wounds as well as past wounds.] ''Do you mean to say¡­ The burn mark on my face and my left leg. They will be healed?'' [Yes, That is correct.] ''Can it do that?'' Arvin asked while his voice started breaking up¡­ He had lived a very tough life back on earth. The scarring on his face,bined with him being a poor crippled boy, made it very hard for him to make friends. After all who wanted to hang out with a guy who was not only young but was so poor that he had never watched a movie in a theatre. Maybe if he would have studied in a government school from the start then he could have made some friends. But the kids from the high tiers school used to ignore him like he was a gue. Every time he would go out, even the pedestrians would give him the look of disgust. While other people used to give him looks that were filled with pity while some looks were filled with horror. But he endured. He always used to think that one day, when he would get a well-paying job, he would go through surgery and remove that scarring forever. At least after that, he would be able to live a normal life. That is why he worked so hard for it. And now his chance was finally in his grasp. He could live a normal life from now on¡­ #edited by Hocther Chapter 8 - -7 Arvin got his first scar when he was just 12 years old. He used to work illegally in a small tea stall. The pay was very less, but he desperately needed money. So he didn''t mind working illegally. That day he was working at night. That night his tea stall didn''t have a lot of customers. So he had a lot of free time in his hands. So he thought that why not pass his free time by reading a book. So he did just that. As he was reading his book quietly, the owner of the shop came back. He was drunk. As he saw that Arvin was reading a book instead of taking care of the shop, he flipped. ?? In a stance of rage, he threw the nearest teapot on Arvin. The teapot was filled with hot water. And when Arvin''s head and teapot collided all the hot water was sprayed on Arvin''s face. That resulted in his scarring. ...¡­ When Arvin was 15 years old he had started studying in college. It was the start of his new life. The college that he studied in was the most prestigious in whole India. He knew that if he got into this college then his future aspects will be very bright. With that thought in his mind, he attended his first day at college. But little that he knew, this day would soon turn out to be the worst day of his life. While going to college, a car rammed into him. The driver was a girl, who was the same age as him. She was driving without a license. But the thing was that she was a rich kid. Although that girl didn''t apologize to him, her parents did pay his medical bills. Her parents also scolded her in front of him. He didn''t know whether it was a farce or not, but he didn''t mind it all. He was safe and sound that only mattered to him. But the damage that girl caused him turned out to be more serious than he thought. Later after his recovery, the Doctors told him that even though they will be able to heal his leg, but due to some impact of the car, few nerves of his left leg were damaged. Due to this, he will not be able to walk properly¡­ ...¡­. ''I will choose the potion. Give me that potion.'' [Is host sure?] ''Yes. I am 100% sure. I want that potion.'' [Host''smand has been acknowledged.] Soon magically and a small bottle appeared in Arvin''s hand. It was a bottle whose length was only 3 inches. That bottle contained 3-4 drops of gold liquid. As Arvin looked at the bottle, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He uncorked the bottle and ingested all the liquid in the bottle. The liquid was very sweet like it was honey. But unlike honey, it was not that dense. As that liquid started entering Arvin''s stomach it started showing its effect. Arvin''s heart skipped and beat and then started beating more furiously. The bones of Arvin''s body started cracking. Soon the bone marrow that was initially inside his bones started pouring out. Soon a new more refined and stronger bone marrow started forming in his bones. And his bones also started healing themselves while also bing stronger and harder than before. His left leg also started healing. While his skin started shedding. And soon new skin also started forming¡­ While this was happening, Arvin was in intense pain. His whole body was being restructured. And it felt like someone was constantly ramming him with a 200-tonne truck over and over again. It was a very painful experience for him. It was so painful that no voice came out of his mouth as he opened his mouth. The only sound that he was able to transmit was a grunting sound. If someone would have listened to those voices then they could have taken those noises like a man''s voice who is very close to an orgasm¡­. ......¡­ Alman was very angry right now. One of the earthlings that he had brought back had run away. He was very angry at that earthling. Because of that earthling, he had lost face with a big merchant family. They were willing to pay a good amount for him. Even though he was crippled and had scars on his face, they were willing to buy him. But his n was spoiled as that brat ran away. Alman ordered his man to find him. But even after 2 hours to search, they were not able to find his traces. Alman was angry. He had sworn that the day the boy reappears on the 1st floor he will make sure to pay back his debt with interest¡­. "What should we do now boss?" Jonny asked Alman. "Find him. Discreetly. Keep a lookout for him. There wille a day when he will reappear on the 1st floor. That day will be thest." Alman said with an angry expression on his face. "Ok boss. But boss what will happen if he bes someone big?" Jonny asked "What do you mean?" "What if he enters the chart?" "Then I will be there with a congratting gift in my hands opening my arms to him," Alman said sarcastically. "¡­.." "Idiot he is a cripple. Even if he can attain a ranking in the chart, he still is nothing in front of me." Alman said proudly. "That is boss for you¡­. By the way, I wanted to ask you¡­ Is the difference between two floors thatrge?" "Of course it is. You are just a bumpkin that knows nothing. The difference between the two consecutive floors is very huge. The same logic could also be applied to people and beasts that roam in the floors." "So the people of the second floor are stronger than that of the 1st floor?" "Yes. But this logic does not apply to earthlings. That is why I want to keep an eye out for that boy." "I understood boss. But still, boss how earthlings are different?" "You are too weak to know that information," Alman said. "I understand boss," Jonny said. He did not inquire any further. As Jonny knew that he lived in a world where asking too many questions could be very disastrous for him. That is why he kept quiet¡­. ....... After experiencing the agonizing process, Arvin fainted. He lied there hidden behind the stacks of wood till night. But he abruptly woke up when he heard a loud noise¡­ BAAAM The door of the big building was flung open forcefully. Out of the door, three men came out. Out of the three, two men were wearing ck color clothes. They both had bulging muscles. Even the ck clothes of those two men could not hide their bulging muscles. Both of those men were escorting an old man out of the building. That old man was wearing a shabby robe. He has a long white beard. His face looked flushed. The redness on his face showed signs that the old man was drunk. Those two men threw the old man outside of the door and then closed the door behind them. Arvin saw all that had transpired while hiding behind the stack of woods. After those two men left while leaving the unconscious old man behind, he finally got up from that ce. As both of them left, Arvin got and inspected his body. His whole body was covered with ck color gooey stuff. The ce he was lying was covered with dead skin and what looked like blood. He didn''t know what that potion did to him, but he felt very good. His body felt very light. The bad smell that he was emitting was the only party pooper that he could see. Arvin looked at the clothes that he was wearing. They were ruined because of the gooey stud and blood. He needed new clothes and that too fast. As he was thinking abruptly looked at the old man that was lying drunk in the alley. He looked around and found no one was in the vicinity. With an evil smile on his face, Arvin undressed that old man and took his clothes. He didn''t throw away his old clothes as they were a memento of his old world, his old life. He cleaned the filth on his body with his hands. That took care of the ck gooey stuff. Still, he smelled like shit. But he didn''t care. He wore that old man''s clothes. Although they were a little bit too tight for him, he didn''t mind it at all. The alley was empty for now, but he feared that someone mighte out of the big building. So he thought that it would be a good idea to make some distance between him and the building¡­. ''With these clothes, I will be able to blend in with the people of this world. I should not worry about Alman now, as my scar has healed now. I don''t think that he will be able to recognize me. But still, I should be careful¡­'' Arvin started thinking as he walked away from an unconscious naked old man¡­ #editor-a duma** called Hocther Chapter 9 - -8 Luck, destiny, and karma are the three phenomena and belief that defines the experience of notably positive, negative, or improbable events. -Wiki ?? ........ Arvin never believed in either of the three things. He had always been unlucky. Although he never did anything that could be considered as bad karma, still he never received or felt any phenomena that rewarded him with good karma that he had done. As for destiny, he believed that this was mumbo-jumbo made up by the people who were high on some weed. And ording to the inte, he might actually be right. Throughout his life, he never felt lucky. Not even once. He used to read articles and quotes saying that you are very lucky to be alive and all that sh*t. Whenever he woulde across such quotes or articles, he would raise his middle finger to those types of written material. After all, what is worth such a life where you have to think twice before buying a simple burger from a restaurant. Because ording to his financial situation that was considered a luxury. He had a feeling that maybe when he came into this world he would have left his bad luck behind. After all the potion that he got from that Lopt guy, helped him a lot. He was very happy about it. But who knew, that his luck will only get worse as time passes¡­ ''Yo! You weird voice in my head. Do you have a name?'' [Negative.] ''So from today onwards let me give a name¡­ From today onwards you will be known as Dobby [Dobby?] ''Yeah. It is the name of one of the characters from one of my favorites books of all time. So, do you like it?'' [I will never confirm nor deny your statement.] ''¡­'' [¡­.] ''Anyway¡­. Now tell me what will I need to gain powers?'' [What do you mean?] ''You know. You told me that I am not strong enough to handle the powers given to me. So how could I get strong?'' [That option is not avable for the host.] ''Why?'' [That option could only be opened when the host activates the Mischief System.] ''The first price? Wait¡­. When will this system get activated?'' [Counting down¡­.26, 280¡­ 26, 279] the weird voice disyed this message in front of Arvin ''Cool¡­. Wait¡­ Why is the timer stuck at 26,279?'' [It is not stuck, host.] ''What are you talking about? I can see clearly that it is stuck.'' [Timer is not stuck, host.] ''But why is it not moving forward?'' [It is moving forward. It is just that this timer is disying time in hours. That is why moving slowly] ''Oh¡­ I get it¡­ Wait¡­ What the in the name of ACTUAL F**K are you telling me?'' [¡­.] ''Are you seriously telling me that I have to wait for 26, 279 hours for my powers to activate?'' [Yes.] ''Wait¡­ 26, 279 divided by 24¡­ and 1 year has 365 days¡­ That is F**king 3 years? What the f**k am I supposed to do for 3 years?'' [¡­] ''Answer me dammit!'' [That is up to the host to decide.] ''¡­.'' [¡­.] ''So during these whole 3 years, I will be a normal human being?'' [Negative. Due to the potion, the potential of your body has been increased. Right now your potential lies between that of an earthling and a being from Yggdrasil 1st floor.] ''Is that supposed to help me? And what you mean by potential?'' [Host does not have enough level to gain that information.] ''¡­'' Arvin''s mood that on the above clouds came crashing down as his talk with Dobby got over. Now without any powers, he felt dejected. He wanted to go back in time and wanted to convince the past Arvin to choose the 1st reward. But nothing could be done about the past. It could not be changed, no matter what he did. He felt betrayed. He felt that that Lopt guy had yed a prank on him. But little did he know his unlucky streak has now started¡­ ......¡­. Arvin was walking aimlessly in the web of alleys. He wanted to get out of the web of alleys and wanted to go to the main road. From there he would go out of the city to a different city. As Alman had told him that this world has 7 cities. He wasn''t sure that he would in a different city. But it was better than staying in the city which was the business hub of Alman. Thinking like this he was making his way through the alleys. When he entered the allies in the day, he hardly saw one or two-person in the alleys. But now, in the nighttime, alleys were swarming with people. He wanted to ask someone for directions, but everyone was avoiding him like he was some kind of gue. Arvin then thought back and believed that the smell from that ck gooey stuff was the one to thank for this situation. Seeing how every pedestrian was avoiding him, Arvin thought that it would be a better idea to have a bath before setting off anywhere. But as he was walking aimlessly, an armored man like that he saw on the gates of this city appeared before him. Arvin that he should avoid him at any cost, but as he was slowly walking past the soldier, the soldier shoved his spear in the path of Arvin, making him stop. "Where the hell do you think you are going?" That soldier asked. "Did I do something wrong?" Arvin asked innocently. "We, the city watch, have got a report that tells us an unidentified man is circling the whole Y_block over and over again. Suspect description, he smells like he has taken a bath in fierce bird''s poop." The soldier said with a smile "¡­" Arvin then didn''t say anything further. "You have toe with me young man, do youply?" "Yes," Arvin said dejectedly. That soldier then tied a rope to Arvin''s arms and then started walking forward, while Arvin kept following him from the back. While they were walking, Arvin kept looking around himself, seeking any chance that he could get to get rid of this soldier, and ran off. He didn''t know much about the world, and he didn''t want to get mixed up with the authorities of the world right now. He had a strong feeling that nobody will be able to recognize him now, as the burn mark covered the almost full right side of his face. And now that it was healed there was a very little chance that one would be able to recognize him. That soldier then dragged Arvin for around 30 minutes or so. At that time, he dragged him through some alleys, and then he finally came to the main road. The main road of the city was bustling with people. It was a very noisy road full of beautiful women, different kinds of shops, and most important of all food. When Arvin smelled the delicious food that was being served in small stalls, his stomach started making noises because of hunger. It was then he realized that he had not eaten anything this day. But no matter how bustling the road was, when people saw a soldier, making his way through the crowd, everyone gave them space. Arvin didn''t know whether it was because of his smell or the authority of city watch? Still, after 30 minutes, the soldier and Arvin came to a big mansion-style building. There was a huge iron gate at the entrance of the building. Above the gate, in an arc, some weird symbols were written on a wooden nk. Arvin was amazed by the fact that he had learned a foreignnguage as he came to this world. But when he saw that nk, he was more impressed. He could not only speak but also read this foreignnguage. CITY WATCH Arvin straightly recognized that on the wooden nk, the City Watch was written. He then realized that maybe the City Watch must be some sort of police of this world. That could exin the soldier taking him here. But as they got in through the gate, instead of taking Arvin to the building, the soldiers took him to a shabby building just behind the magnificent building of the night''s watch. I mean City Watch. That shabby was still huge, but it was very small whenpared to the main building. In front of the shabby building, few soldiers were hanging out while smoking what looked like life to this world''s cigarettes. "What the hell took you so long?" one of the soldiers shouted as he saw theming. "Oh, I was looking for fresh meat." The soldier that was dragging Arvin shouted back. Soon both of them came close to the group of the soldier. But strangely the group of soldiers huddled around Arvin and started inspecting him from top to bottom. As they were inspecting him, Arvin had a bad premonition that maybe he was in some kind of danger. "Doesn''t look like much. But well it is better than nothing." One of the soldiers said, then he smacks on the head of Arvin with force. That smack made Arvin lose his consciousness¡­ Chapter 10 - -9 SPLASH A sudden ssh of cold water brought Arvin back to consciousness. He looked around and found himself in a dimly lit room. There was the man with a ck mask on his face that sshed water on his face standing just in front, ring down at him. While around him, various men and women were sitting on the floor. ?? Arvin thought about thest thing that he remembered. He remembered that he was being escorted by a soldier. They then came to a huge building ton whose entrance there was a big board that said¡­CITY WATCH. Then he remembers that one of the soldiers smack him in the head, knocking him out. Then he woke up here. He was confused about where he was¡­ "Wake up smelly pig!" the man with the mask said to Arvin. While Arvin was still trying to get his head straight. So he did not listen to what that man had said. As the man with the ck mask saw that Arvin did not obey him, he got angry. He got so angry that he kicked Arvin straight in his skull. Because of force from the kick, Arvin was flung backward. Because of the kick, he rolled backward. And from the impact between the skull and that mask''s man foot, a cut formed on the right eyebrow of Arvin. Due to the force of the impact, Arvin''s head started spinning. While his head was spinning the man with the ck mask came and started dragging Arvin on the floor. That man took his clothes and started pulling Arvin from his clothes. Then while dragging Arvin behind him, the man came through an iron door, which was the only room present in the room. Behind the door was a brightly illuminated room. In that room there 4-5 young men were standing with a tense look on their faces. After that man brought Arvin here, he left through the same iron door. By this time Arvin hase to his senses. He got up from the floor immediately, as the masked man left. He looked around and saw the faces of the young man standing there. As he looked at their faces he had a feeling that maybe the worst was about to happen. Then the door at the end of the room opened and a soldier came out of it. He then came to them and started saying¡­ "In a few minutes, you will be taken to an arena. There you guys will have a battle royale with each other. Thest one standing will be released today. But the rest will only be released after 7 days. Do you understand?" That soldier said while ring at all the young people in front of him. Seeing that all the young men didn''t even have the courtesy to reply, the soldier got angry. "I F**king asked you guys a question!!! Do you understand?!" Soldier screamed. "Yes." Everyone said in unison. While the voice behind that yes was weak and dejected one¡­ "Good, very good. Now everyone, follow me¡­" the soldier said¡­ ........ That soldier led Arvin and the other 5 young men through the door from which he came just now. That gate opened to the colosseum-type arena. In the center of the colosseum was the fighting stage. While around the stage there were sitting arrangements made for spectators. Arvin saw that the spectators mostly consisted of soldiers. While there few people without the typical armor of soldiers. All the spectators started cheering as soon as all of them came out of them and towards the center stage. As they all got to center stage, amentator started speaking in a loud voice¡­ "Harrison¡­timemitted-theft of an ax from the cksmith shop. Micheal¡­ crimemitted- harassed somedies in a pub. . . . . A-Hole¡­ crimemitted- bathing with fierce bird poop" As soon as thest sentence was spoken out loud and everyone in the stadium startedughing their a**es off. It was after a minute or two Arvin realized that the guy in thest sentence was him. He didn''t do that, what was he supposed to feel about this? But soon his chain of thought was broken when thatmentator started speaking again¡­ "This a battle royale¡­ Thest one standing will be able to go his way out of here today. While the rest of you rats will have to stay in this ce for 7 more days¡­. NOW FIGHT!!" the man screamed. As soon as he finished the sentence a gong rang¡­ Arvin didn''t know what kind of ce this was. And he was trying to digest what was going on. But as soon as he heard the sound of gong he came out of trance. But it was toote. The nearest guy to him has already started moving before the gong. And as soon as gong rang, he punched Arvin in the face. That punch was a surprise attack that Arvin had not expected, and so the punch connected straight to his nose. Arvin was not flung by the force behind the punch but still, he fell on his feet because of the punch. If it was older Arvin, that punch would have resulted in a broken nose. But due to the potion, Arvin''s body has been refined to such a level that the punch didn''t hurt him at all. It just stung a little bit. That young that punched Arvin was about to attack him once again, but Arvin had realized the situation he was in. So he abruptly got up, he made some distance between him and that young man, and formed a boxing pose. He never fought anyone before. This was his first time fighting, someone. Therefore he didn''t have any idea about how to deal with these people. So he made a simple n. He made a n that at first, he would just try to evade. Then if the opportunity presents itself he will attack. With resolve in his mind. He waited for his opponent to attack him. the young man then took a step forward and swung his right hand towards Arvin''s face. But as the punch was progressing towards Arvin he noticed that something was wrong with this young man¡­ Arvin avoided that swing with ease. He just took a step back and avoided being hit by it. But by then that young man has gotten full-on Bruce Lee. He had started swinging his hands randomly aiming at Arvin. But Arvin swiftly avoided them¡­ ''Is this man this weak? The first few swings had some power and speed to them. But I was able to avoid those swings with ease. Is he that weak?'' Arvin thought. As he was thinking that man swings lost all of their power and speed behind them. Arvin saw this opportunity. So he stepped forward, made a fist in his right hand, and shoved it straight in the young man''s stomach. As soon as the punch got connected, that young man lost consciousness. Arvin when saw that the young man had lost consciousness, he looked at fist like they were magical. He had never punched anyone before in his life. This was the first time he was the one who was at the other end of the punch because while on earth most of the time he was at the receiving end of the punch. Impressed by his newfound powers, Arvin had a resolve in his eyes. He got confident that maybe he could beat the other people that came with him and get the hell out of here. With that resolve, he turned back. He saw that only two young men were left conscious who were fighting each other. Both of them have blood on their faces. It was hard to tell where they have been injured. Seeing that they were already injured, Arvin smiled creepily. He then ran towards them, while both those young men were so immersed in their fight that they didn''t notice, Arvin was running towards them. As soon as Arvin reached them, he swung his body andunched a full-force punch towards the nearest guy. The punch got connected on its head, making him fall on the ground unconscious. While the other guy was shocked by the sudden appearance of Arvin, as he came out of nowhere. Seeing that the neer was unharmed, without any scratch, that young man had a bad premonition. But unlike Arvin, that young man was amon man. He didn''t have any fighting capabilities. As he saw Arvin he knew that the longer he fights, the more he will suffer. So after knocking the first guy, when Arvin threw the punch at the second guy he didn''t resist at all. And soon thest guy standing in the arena was Arvin. It was then he looked around the spectators. Everyone was cheering for him¡­ "A-Hole! A-Hole! A-Hole!" And soon thementator also announced¡­ "The winner of the match is A-Hole!!!!" Soon a soldier came to the stage and dragged Arvin out of the stage. They then made their way out of the arena. After going through various doors, they finally came out of the building. Then after making their way from here and there, they finally reached a big iron gate. As soon as Arvin crossed the gate he saw that had taken him outside of the city. He could see vast grasnds that he saw this morning. Finally, after such a long time, he was able to feel fresh air on his face¡­ #FREEEDOMMM # edited by a very sexy man hotcher Chapter 11 - -10 As Arvin gazed at the vast grasnds in front of him he felt free. He felt that he was a caged bird before and now he was free¡­ ''Wait a sec. What am I doing out of the city?'' Arvin asked himself. He then turned around to the soldier that had escorted him out... ?? "Kind sir. What am I doing out here?" Arvin asked innocently and with the utmost respect. "Well, we said that we will let you go. But we didn''t mean inside the city." The soldier said while mocking him. "But it is dangerous out there. How am I supposed to survive out there?" Arvin asked while panicking. "That is none of my concern¡­ By the way did you have anything else while you were brought here?" the soldier asked. Arvin became enraged as he heard the answer of that soldier. But he controlled his anger and took a deep breath. He was in a very dangerous situation right now. He needed to be careful and think rationally¡­ "Yeah. I had a weapon and some currency¡­" Arvin said weakly... "Currency?.... Who even talks like that?" the soldier said whileughing. Little did he know that the man in front of him didn''t know about this world''s currency. He didn''t know whether coins were used in this world or notes were used as currency. So he used the word currency instead. While the soldier thought that he was joking¡­ "You could forget about your so-called ''currency''. It somehow got misced. While you have your weapon back. Wait here for a moment" The soldier said. Then he went inside and came out with an ax in his hands. Arvin didn''t know a lot about the world, but from what he had seen from the city, he noticed that everyone roaming around the city had a weapon in their hands. So he thought that traveling with weapons must have been a norm here. Because of that, he thought that he should ask for a weapon. And he was very lucky that the soldier escorting him out didn''t know that he came here empty-handed¡­ Arvin when saw the ax, his mood digressed a little bit. He was thinking that maybe he would get a cool sword or something. But on the other hand, he only got a simple-looking ax. "I need your name before I give this back. Your name is Harrison right?" the soldier asked. "Yes. My name is Harrison." Arvin agreed straight away. "Cool here you go." The soldier said while handing that ax over to Arvin. After handing the ax over, the soldier went back inside leaving Arvin outside¡­ ......¡­. Alone in the night, Arvin didn''t know where to go. He remembers Alman saying in the orientation that the Kalgan forest is a very dangerous ce and all the dangerous beasts and monsters are found there in the forest. So he should go in the opposite direction from the forest. That would be his n for now. He didn''t waste any time walking back to the gate of the city. He was sure that with a smell like this there was no way in hell they will let him in. Plus he had decided that he would leave this city and move to another one. Away from the influence of Alman and his goons. Although traveling alone at night was not in his n, still what could he do now? With resolve in his eyes, Arvin started moving in a random direction¡­ Arvin had resolve in his eyes. He was confident in his powers granted by the weird voice in his head. But as he was walking he remembered that big ass monster that he saw flying in the air, this morning. He then started remembering the sheer size of that monster. Then he started thinking that even with all of his power, will he be able to survive if he met that monster?.... ''Maybe begging soldiers to take him in is not such a bad idea after all¡­ At least I will be safe¡­'' Arvin thought. Soon he developed resolve that he could beg with utmost respect and charm, and just maybe they will take him in. With that thought, Arvin took a 180-degree turn and started running back. Arvin side by side of the wall. He had to walk for around 10 minutes along the wall until he came to the gate that he passed through in the morning. Unlike the morning, the area around the gate at night was bustling with people. There were various bullock carts and horse carriages outside the gate. Arvin but didn''t spare a nce as to why there were so many people outside the gate. He straightaway ran towards the gate. As he got close people that were in front of the gate started moving from Arvin, because of how smelly he was. But as he got close to the gate, he saw something bad. The gate was closed. Seeing that the gate was closed he felt despair. Because there was no way in hell soldiers guarding the gates will open the gate for an insignificant person like him. He was feeling despair. What should he do?.... "What the f**k did you encounter today that you smell this bad?" came a voice from behind. Arvin turned back and saw that the old man was standing behind him. That old man had a jute basket on his back. Despite being old, he was standing straight as a mountain. That old man had a big scar on his right side cheek. And despite being old, his clothes were not able to hide his muscr body¡­ "It is a long story. Sir." Arvin replied. "Dried blood on the forehead. Smile like shit. Carrying an ax¡­. You seem like HTC. What is your name kiddo?" The old man asked. Arvin remembered from the orientation that HTC or Hired Task Completer is a job that has something rted to monster hunting¡­ "My name is¡­ Lopt." Arvin lied. He didn''t want to tell his real name as he had told Alman his real name. And if word got out to Alman, then it could spell trouble for him¡­ "Lopt? That is a weird f**king name." "My parents gave it to me." "So, Lopt. What the hell did you do today to smell this bad?" "Like I said it is a very long story. I don''t want to talk about it." Arvin said. "Fine be cranky¡­. So which vige do you belong to?" the old man asked. Arvin then saw this as a window of opportunity¡­ "Well I used to live in the city¡­ but now¡­" Arvin said in a sad voice¡­ "In the city? What happened?" "I met ady." "And?" "Her name was gambling," Arvin said sadly. "And let me take a guess¡­ You lost all your money. And now you are homeless?" "You could say so," Arvin said sadly. Arvin was thinking that maybe this old man would be a benevolent man that could give him a ce to stay¡­ HAHAHA¡­ Instead of offering him a helping hand that old man started tough very loudly. He wasughing so hard that people started looking behind who was the idiot who wasughing so loudly¡­ Seeing that old manugh, Arvin lost interest in the old man. He lost hope that this man might help him. Dejected he turned around and started walking away from the old man with his ax in his hands... Seeing that Arvin was walking away that old man ran after him¡­ "Wait, young man¡­" the old man said as he caught up to Arvin¡­ "So what are your ns for the future?" the old man asked while following Arvin. "I will see what my destiny has stored from me. Why?" Arvin asked. "Well, how do you use this ax that you are holding?" "For fighting?... No¡­. For chopping down a tree?... no" "Then are you willing to work for this old man?" "What kind of work?" Arvin asked curiously "You see I am a woodcutter. But my partner is sick. So I need someone else to share my workload¡­ Although you are an HTC, ¡­" as the old man was speaking, Arvin cut him between. "I will do it." "Are you sure?" "Yes. I am 100% sure." "The pay is minimal and¡­" "Old man look at me. I am a beggar right now. What use do I have for the pride of an HTC? Just tell me details about the job." Arvin said. He may sound desperate to the old man, but he didn''t waver. Because right now he was penniless as well as homeless. He was a loser right now. So anything that would be offered to him, he will take it as gracefully as he can¡­ "Alright then follow me to my vige. There is a pond nearby my vige. You can get a bath first. Then we will go home." The old man said. "Ok. Let''s go" Arvin said, enthusiastically¡­ #yawn goodmorning Chapter 12 - -11 It turned out that the old man''s name was Josh. He is a woodcutter in a vige called the Bonies. While talking to the old man on their way home, Arvin was able to find out that city from which they came was called the Arcane city, the city of end and beginning. The arcane city was thest city on the 1st floor. And beyond that city was Kalgan forest. It was called thest city as beyond that city, in the Kalgan forest was the infamous Ancession tower. Arvin didn''t know what was the tower or what was its use. He was tired, hungry, and dehydrated. So he didn''t hear all the bbering that old man did. ?? Arvin had a thought that maybe that old man was tricking him or something. After all, not everyone is so benevolent in the world. He knew that. But still, he had followed that old man. He did it because he was tired of running away. For now, he would rather be in captivity than die a dog''s death in a vast grasnd. That old man then told him about his history. He was the descendent of some warrior of the apocalypse period. After that warrior died his family moved to the Bonies. And they have been living there ever since. Like the warriors of the apocalypse age, their families tried to make warriors out of their children. But no one in their family was able to wield Morte Andort Neutron Amalgamations¡­ MANA for short¡­ And for the rest of the road, the old man didn''t stop his bber for a second. But it was a good thing as his bber helped Arvin to stay awake¡­ Arvin went to Bonies and then to the old man''s house. The old man fed him some fruits, helped him take a bath, and then both went to sleep. .........¡­.. The next morning Arvin woke up, finding himself in a makeshift bed made up of sheep skin. He then remembered thest day''s events. As he remembered those events it was hard for him to digest that all the things that he encountered and experienced yesterday were all true. After all, this felt like a fairy tale to him. Right now Arvin was in a small room. He was lying on a bed made of sheepskin. Last night Josh insisted that he should wash his clothes as well so that the smell of whatever god-awful thing that he was carrying would be washed away. That is he was lying naked in his room, while the old man Josh was lying in the adjacent room. As he remembered every event that happened yesterday, a voice rang out in his head¡­ [Good Morning Host.] ''Good morning Dobby.'' Arvin said in his mind. [Does the host want to start the integration process of the Mischief system?] ''Sure. Do what you want.'' Arvin said with a still little bit of sleep left in his eyes... [Sure thing Host. Integration starts in 9¡­8¡­7¡­6¡­.] As the Dobby was counting back, abruptly Arvin came to his senses. He opened his eyes wide open and screamed¡­ "WAIT FOR A F**KING SECOND YOU PIECE OF CUNT!!!" Arvin screamed. [Integration process aborted.] ''You said that it would take 3 years before I could integrate the system/'' [That was true.] ''Then this is just my second day in this world. Why is integration starting now?'' [Host three years have already passed.] ''WHAT? No, it hasn''t. Only one day has passed'' Arvin said now confused. Then he had a terrible epiphany. What if he fell into some kind ofa? What if that old man recognized him as human and sold him out. Maybe they were keeping him sedated until three years have passed¡­ AS Arvin was thinking of various possibilities the gate of his room was flung open and old man Josh came in. Arvin figured that what Dobby said was true and he was kidnapped, Arvin snapped¡­ "You monster! What have you done to me? How long was I out?" Arvin asked while boiling with rage. "Me? A monster? Well seeing your little brother down there I would have said that you are a monster. And as for how much time had passed?... I would say that we both have 9 hours of sleep. And let''s go, it is time to start our work. Let''s Go!" Josh said with enthusiasm. And he walked out of the room. When Arvin heard Joshmenting on his little brother down there, his face became red in shame. Then as quickly as a rabbit, he covered it with his hands, Then as he heard hisst sentence he got confused¡­ ''What is going on Dobby? Why Josh is behaving as nothing has happened.'' [Host has to understand. 26 thousand hours were left in the timer ording to the time of Zab. Time runs faster there.] ''¡­'' [¡­.] ''Wait for a F**king second. That title. Mischief System? I should have understood it a long time ago. After all, Mischief was in its name¡­'' Arvin said as he had an epiphany about the so-called system¡­ [WARNING!!!] [INTRUDER ALTER!!] [Overriding GM''s authority] {You are a smart one, you know that?} Arvin heard a voice. That voice belonged to a man that had a bit of a British ent in his way of speaking. Arvin had a feeling that he heard this voice before. But he was not able to remember where exactly he had hear this voice. ''Who the hell are you? Dobby?'' {Didn''t you get the message? I am an intruder. You can me Lopt} ''Lopt? As in the person that created Dobby'' {Right. That''s me} ''Then why are you an intruder? Didn''t you create him?'' {Ohhh¡­ Smarty Pants¡­. Well, you see although I made him, I was never meant to be in touch with you. GM didn''t give me such authority} ''GM?'' {GAME MASTER.} ''Game? Wait, this is a game?'' {Oh yes. Of course dear. But this game is meant to be yed by us gods.} ''You are a God?'' {Yes.} ''Why am I here?'' {To y the game of course. You can think of it like this¡­ The whole Yggdrasil is a chessboard. And you are my pawn} ''A pawn? Why? Why me?'' {Oh I don''t have time and patience to answer your stupid little questions. Just remember. We gods can give you power that you can''t imagine. But the condition is that you have to show us that you deserve it.} ''How do I show that'' {By fulfilling the task that I will give you in the future.} ''In the future?'' {Yes, full fill all your tasks. And you will be given all the power that you need to make your wishese true¡­} Lopt said in an enchanting way¡­ #Doctored by Hocther Chapter 13 - -12 Yes, If you fulfill all your tasks. And you will be given all the power that you need to make your wishese true. -Lopt (A Unknown God) ?? ...¡­.. Thest sentence that Lopt said rang itself inside Arvin''s mind over and over again. Any other human, who would have heard a god saying that he would fulfill any wish that the human wants, then that human would happily bow his head in front of the god. That was the case with Arvin. He would also bow his head if that means his wish would be fulfilled. After all, he is only a human. But as Lopt said those words, Arvin faced a dilemma¡­. ''What do I want? What are my desires? What do I yearn for?'' Arvin asked himself over and over again but he was not able to find a suitable answer. If Lopt was a God then him saying that he would fulfill any of his desire was like a golden opportunity for him. He wanted to use it for something that meant something to him. It was not like he didn''t have any desires. He wanted to take revenge on people that have tormented him all of his life. He wanted to live a peaceful and happening life back on earth. But as he came here, all that ns of revenge and all that negative energy didn''t matter anymore. He got his body fixed. He was living in a good and beautiful ce. He didn''t desire money as he knew what money could do to a person. He didn''t want to go back to the world and live in the concrete jungle. Then what did he desire? Was it strength?... These philosophical questions made a home in Arvin''s mind. And he started thinking about them all the time¡­ ...¡­. After a brief conversation, Lopt left. Before leaving he said that not to mention anyone that Arvin was able to contact the god who gave him his powers. It was forbidden for gods to reveal themselves before their pawns before 50 floors or so what he said. Lopt also warned him that even if Dobby asked anything about it then too he shouldn''t tell anyone about this. Arvin was confused about what was up with this secrecy. And wasn''t Dobby to read his mind. Wouldn''t he find out about it eventually? Then he didn''t lean on into it too much. After all, he had a bigger fish to fry¡­. That day old man Josh gave Arvin a tour of the vige. It was a very small vige with at most 100 people living in it. Because of that everyone knew who Josh was. So he introduces everybody that they met while touring the vige. Arvin didn''t care much about the vigers. But as soon as Josh told them that Arvin was HTC, everyone''s attitude took a 180 degrees turn. They started bing friendly to Arvin and even one of the old women of the vige started talking about marrying her granddaughter to him. Arvin didn''t know what HTC was or how to be one. But from the looks of it, local people do give respect to the HTCs. He made a note that before anyone could find out that Arvin is not an HTC, he should get out of here. After all, he didn''t want to raise attention. After that for the whole day, he helped Josh in cutting big logs of wood. It turns out that wood was the basic source of energy around here. So when an earthling started appearing here, one earthling saw this as an opportunity. He opened apany that would supply wood from the Kalgan forest to all the viges and cities. That idea gave birth to a noble house and the biggest merchant on the 1st floor. That earthling then gave all the powers rted to thepany to his loyal subordinate and went away to explore Yggdrasil. That subordinate''s family became the 7th noble family. Their business also made them the wealthiest noble family on the 1st floor. And their noble family is referred to as The Cullens. Cullen''s woodpany supplies steady big logs to different viges and cities and takes a hefty sum for it. But as wood is the only source of energy here, everyone wholeheartedly paid any price for it. After all, it was a better option than taking a risk and going to Kalgan forest. Josh and his partner would take big logs and would cut them into pieces so that ordinary people could use them easily. But now as Josh''s partner is away, Arvin was the one that will fill in his ce. Arvin also got to know an interesting fact. Josh pitied him that is why he gave this job to Arvin. ording to what he learned from conversations of the viger and Josh, he understood that the job of HTC was very dangerous as well as very lucrative. It paid a lot of money. But when Arvin showed in front of the gate smelling like that and with blood on his head, Josh made a presumption that something terrible happened to Arvin. Josh assumed that Arvin faced something awful. That is why he showed pity to him. Because it was not umon for HTC to quit in between because they suffered something terrible that affected their mental state¡­ And when Josh offered a woodcutter job to Arvin he agreed to it straight away, this confirmed Josh''s assumptions. That is why he was treating him so nicely. ...¡­ That day after Lopt left, Arvin tried contacting Dobby over and over again. After all, how could he forget, he had to integrate his system with his body. But no answer came back. As Dobby didn''t answer back, he assumed the worst. That maybe Lopt''s sudden barging in, could have made Dobby dormant or something. But 6 hourster, Dobby came back. At that time Arvin was working with Josh in godown, so he didn''t start the integration process. But he figured that he would do it at night¡­ The night was upon the little vige of Bonies. And in a small wooden house near the outskirts of the vige, Arvin was lying on sheepskin, ready to integrate his system. ''Dobby, initiate the integration process.'' [Request acknowledged.] [Integration process is starting in¡­.9] [Integration process is starting in¡­.8] [Integration process is starting in¡­.7] [Integration process is starting in¡­.6] [Integration process is starting in¡­.5] [Integration process is starting in¡­.4] [Integration process is starting in¡­.3] [Integration process is starting in¡­.2] [Integration process is starting in¡­.1] [Integration process is starting in¡­.0] As soon as the timer hit zero, Arvin started feeling sudden pain throughout his body. It was like someone was poking needles throughout his body. But Arvin endured it. After all, it was nothingpared to the pain that was caused by that potion that he drank before. After a minute or two, the pain vanished. As the pain vanished, Arvin was left lying on his makeshift bed sweating as he had been in a sauna¡­ ''Is it done Dobby?'' [Yes host. The host should say status to see the controlling panel of the system] ''Ok¡­. Status¡­'' as soon as Arvin said status in his mind, a blue color panel opened in front of him¡­ .........¡­.. STATUS Name- Arvin Level-0 Exp-0 Champion of-????? Inventory-(Tap to expand) Quests-(Tap to expand) Skills-None .........¡­ As Arvin saw the blue panel that appeared before him, he was excited. He was excited that maybe he would have some superpowers or something like that¡­ ''System¡­ What powers will I gain from this system?'' [It depends on the host.] ''So do I have any superpower now?'' Arvin asked excitedly. [No.] ''...¡­'' [...] ''That is a bummer¡­ Tell me more about this panel and its uses.'' [Sure host] the system disyed a green color panel on which all the uses of the system were written¡­ .........¡­. Level--> They denote the power or battle prowess that the host poses aspared to the strongest being of the floor. It is a calcted number that gives a rough idea of the battle prowess of their opponent. Exp-->It is the short form for the experience. The more host trains the more Exp the host will get. It could also be earned as a reward from doing quests. Everypleted quest will award some amount of exp. Exp is used to increase the level of the host. Champion--> These are titles given to apostles of gods. They are the pawn of gods. Gods will give these champions quests from time to time and fulfilling them will give the host some power and artifacts that the god himself/herself will give their champion via inventory. Inventory--> It is a separate space that the host possesses. This space has infinite space. The host can store any non-living things and nts in the space. In that space, time stops working, so nothing will rot in the space. The host can call anything from the space at his will and whenever he wants Quests--> These are the missions that God provides users of the system. There are two types of quests. One is forced one and the other one normal quest. Forced quests are quests that cannot be denied. While a normal quest can be denied by the host. Uponpletion of these missions, the host will gain rewards that would be told before quests start. Simrly, if the host is not able toplete the said quest the penalty would also apply. The severity of the penalty will depend upon the difficulty of the quest. Skills--> These are special powers that the host will gain while traveling through Yggdrasil. Skills can also be granted by gods as quest rewards. ....... Seeing the message board in front of him, Arvin got the gist of how to control the panel of his mischief system. Now all that is left for him to do is to start using it¡­ Chapter 14 - -13 Seeing the message board in front of him, Arvin got the gist of how to control the panel of his mischief system. Now all that is left for him to do is to start using it. But before he could do so, he had some questions that he wanted answers to¡­ ''Hey Dobby, can you exin something to me?'' ?? [Yes, Host ask away.] ''You said the level denoted in the panel will portray my strength inparison to the strongest being on the floor correct?'' [Yes.] ''What is the power level of the strongest being of this floor?'' [I am afraid I can''t give you an answer to that question. The host has to seek out the strongest being himself.] ''That figures¡­ Another thing, does the strongest of all the floors differ in strength?'' [Yes. Higher the one goes in Yggdrasil, the stronger the beings will get.] ''Ok. That''sforting. Another thing, what if somebody from says second floores to this floor. Then how will it affect my level.'' [No being from a higher floor cane to a lower floor. This is the restriction of Yggdrasil.] ''So if I went to the second floor then I won''t be able toe down to the first floor?'' [No. You will be able toe.] ''So earthlings cane down and go up the floor as they like?'' [Yes. But the restrictions of Yggdrasil is not that simple.] ''Exin'' [A being that is born on a floor can only go to a higher floor. It cannot go to a lower floor.] ''So a person from the second floor can only go to the 3rd floor or higher?'' [That is correct.] ''Then if that logic is applied, then people from 1st can go to any floor?'' [Yes.] ''Cool¡­ that means that people on the 1st floor are very versatile people. They could be used forbor on all the floors¡­'' Arvin started thinking. As he listened to the story of the Cullens then he got motivated. He thought he should open a business on one of the floors like Cullens¡­ [That might not exactly be the case host.] ''What do you mean Dobby?'' [People on the 1st floor may be versatile. But they have a drawback¡­] ''What?'' [They will not be able to survive higher floors] ''What? Why?'' [Higher floors have a different atmosphere topensate for the power of beings on that floor.] ''So?'' [Beings from the higher floor have stronger bodies. So they can withstand the atmosphere and pressure of higher floors. But beings on the 1st floor don''t have strong bodies. And they also don''t possess the potential to reach such heights.] ''So humans¡­ I mean earthlings possess strong bodies?'' [No. But they all possess the potential to attain such physique.] ''So we can evolve and attain such a physique?'' [Yes. All the earthlings possess such.] ''That is amazing¡­ Now the next thing. Exin Exp to me clearly.'' [I don''t understand your question.] ''I did a forced mission. But that didn''t give me any sort of Exp. And how the hell did running away from Alman and his goons had made me stronger?'' [I understand your question. For that you should first what Exp refers to.] ''Go on.'' [Host tell me what do you think strength is?] ''It could have different meanings depending on the situation.'' [Correct. The strength that I am here referring to is battle prowess] ''So?'' [How can one increase one''s battle prowess?] ''Through exercise?'' [That will increase your body''s strength. But not battle prowess.] ''So how does one increase its battle prowess?'' [Through getting experience. Through fighting death battles.] ''So does that mean that the quests that I will receive will have a mortal danger to increase my battle prowess?'' [Yes. Most of them will have mortal danger.] ''That is relieving¡­'' [This is the part where earthlings differ from normal beings of the world.] ''How?'' [Although one might receive quests that may face life-threatening danger, not all quests are like that.] ''So?'' [But every quest will give earthlings some exp. So do you know how is that possible?] ''How?'' [Blessing of gods. That is the power that makes an earthling differ from a being from Yggdrasil.] ''Exin.'' [When a being from Yggdrasil lives through a life-threatening battle then he gains some experience. But if earthling faces a simr situation then not only, he gains experience, because of the blessing his. her body will get evolve through that experience. That means that if a earthlings face arge number of life-threatening battles, he or she will evolve in a better version than before the battle.] ''So what about non-life-threatening quests?'' [In that case, the blessing will still make you stronger.] ''Well¡­ that feels like cheating.'' [This is how this world works.] ''Dobby, one more thing. What about the Apostles? Surely we are different from other earthlings'' [Yes. Apostoles are different from normal earthlings.] ''How?'' [Think of it like this. The amount of exp a yer or earthling could have been predetermined by GM. So if there was a quest to kill a rat, ording to GM code let''s say 5 exp should have been given to the yer for this quest. But exp given to the apostle will be determined by the god whom the earthling or yer is loyal to.] ''Does that mean that Lopt guy can make me very powerful?'' [No. He could not do that. ording to the code of Yggdrasil, there is a limit for exp give as a reward for a quest. Like the example about killing that rat. If a yer performs exceptionally well, then the max rewards given to the yer would be 5 exp. Based on your performance you will either get 5 exp or lower. But this rule doesn''t apply to Apostoles. Even if they perform very poorly, Gods are entitled to give their apostles the maximum amount of exp.] ''Woah. That is so cool.'' [But the only drawback of being an apostle is that, if the god mood is sore for any reason then if he/she decides that no reward should be given out for your performance. Then it wille true,] ''Fuck. But normal earthlings will always receive a reward?'' [Yes. But this cannot be said for sure in the case of Apostoles.] ''That is a big drawback¡­ Fine we will see what happens in the future.] [Host, quests have been updated. Would you like to have a look at them?] ''Sure.'' #editor hotcher Chapter 15 - -14 [Host, quests have been updated. Would you like to have a look at them?] Dobby asked. ''Sure.'' Arvin said nonchnt. The Arvin was greeted with three quests that were avable for him to take on in the quest menu¡­ ?? ............¡­. {FORCED QUEST} Quest- RACE to the TOP Description- ???? Rewards-???? Penalty- Death ............ As Arvin saw this quest his mind went haywire for a minute. This quest said that the penalty for notpleting the quest is death? And the cherry on top is that this quest is forced? After reading about this quest Arvin realized something¡­ This world may be a game for the gods. But it is a survival game for the earthlings. And the only way to win or stop the game is to reach the top¡­. Arvin was confused about why the hell is wrong with the description of the quest. It wasn''t showing anything. He had guessed from the name of the quest that it is something rted to the race to the top floor of Yggdrasil. So, he decided to let future Arvin look into this quest for now, and let''s move onto the next quest¡­ ............. {FORCED QUEST} Quest- Road to be strong Description- Host body is weak and could be blown away by any small-time beast of the 1st floor. To be stronger, host has to start training. Complete the following tasks for 4 months¡­ 1>Cut one whole wood log in a day and that to all by yourself. 2>10Km run 3>100 squats 4>100 pushups 5>100 crunches 6>100 side crunches (each side) Rewards- 1>Rejuvenating pill will be provided every day if all the tasks arepleted 2>If host canplete all the tasks regrly for 4 months then a skill-???? Will be provided to the host. Penalty- If host is unable to do a task for any reason then he would be electrocuted for 5 mins straight with 100,000 Watts electricity. (It may cause your death) .............. ''Another Forced Quest with penalty as death. Are you F**king kidding me!'' Arvin screamed in his mind. Although he could understand the significance of the quest, still this quest was asking too much from him. He had seen the size of those logs that Josh had to cut. They were 15 feet tall and had at least 60 inches of diameter. That is a huge log. How the hell is he supposed to cut the log all by himself? This quest was absurd. Arvin when saw the exercise that he had to do daily after cutting logs was also a pain in the a**. Arvin had spent his entire life, either working or studying. There was no way in hell that he could aplish these goals. After all, he had never really exercised in his life. But as he moved towards rewards for the quest he saw something interesting¡­. ''Hey, Dobby. What is a Rejuvenating pill?'' [It is a pill that helps in replenishing its user''s stamina. It also affects the soreness of the body.] ''Wait. Does that mean that if I take this pill after doing tasks mentioned in the quest, all my stamina will be restored?'' [Yes.] ''And it will also affect the soreness and pain of my body?'' [Yes.] ''That''s good to know¡­'' Arvin said in his mind. Then he moved on to the third andst quest that was avable in his quest'' menu¡­ ............¡­ {NORMAL QUEST} Quests- I AM HERE!!! Description- Announce the world about your presence. You are the apostle of the great god ??????. Announce the world that you havee Reward- 1>Get famous with your face known to all people¡­ The Guardian Shield 2>Get famous with your face not known to all people¡­ The Guardian Shield and Ice Magic Penalty- None ............ ''That is what I am talking about. A normal quest finally'' Arvin eximed as soon as he saw that this was a normal quest. But as he read through the quest and saw its rewards, his happiness turned into an expressionless face. If someone sees the quest, he could tell that this is a normal quest. But after going through, one time Arvin understood the deeper meaning behind the quest¡­ There may be no penalty for notpleting the quest. But from the rewards, it could be said that Lopt was giving him two options. And he had to abide by either one of the options. When Dobby told him about the difference between normal earthlings and Apostles he understood one thing. Yggdrasil is a big stage and all the earthlings are its puppets, performing for Gods. If Arvin didn''tplete this task then it may not have dire consequences like the first two consequences, but it will affect the rtionship between Lopt and him. And as Dobby had already told him, Lopt has the power to not give him any Exp or a very low amount of Exp. So if he didn''t do this task for his entertainment then Lopt may lose interest in him and then after that, he was good as dead¡­ It was a harsh reality, but it was the truth. Arvin then steeled his resolve. He had to work hard for his survival. He had been doing that for his whole life. But the difference between the past and now is that now that he had a backer that could reward him handsomely for his efforts¡­ ........... The next morning Arvin woke before Josh could. He wanted toplete his exercise before anyone found out that he was working out. He did this because he didn''t want anyone to know about his strength. He wanted this because of thest quest in the quest menu. The highest reward that he will get is he gets famous while being anonymous. He could only do that when no one in this world knows about his true strength. That was the most important part of his n. The highest reward that he will get is too good to let go. So he had decided that he would train while not being noticed by anyone. This way he could have chances to get the highest reward¡­ Butpleting the exercise was not an easy task. He had never exercised before in his life. He didn''t have to, he had always been in a walking skeleton all of his life. It was only after he drank the potion that Dobby provided him with, his physique changed a little bit. Arvin was confident that his transformed body after drinking the potion will be able to do all the tasks with ease. But boy he was wrong. Although his transformed body did help, but not up to the extent as Arvin had thought of... Arvin became jelly after hepleted the 10 Km run. He lost all the senses in his legs. They went numb. He could only feel the pain and agony of his leg from what they had just experienced. As he was feeling the pain, it was then Arvin realized that this was only the first task that he hadpleted. He had to do 5 more tasks¡­ As the sun was about to rise, Arvinpleted all of his tasks. He had no more power left. His whole body was aching like he had been crushed by a bulldozer. Yet still, he had a fire in his eyes. It was because he knew that all this pain would go away as soon as hepleted all the tasks. He may be walking with the help of a stick now. But as soon as he has done all of his tasks he will be normal again¡­ .......... [Host haspleted daily task] [Host has been awarded Rejuvenating pill.] [Host has gained 5 Exp.] Messages came pouring down as soon as Arvin cut thest piece of wood of the log. It was night time. Josh hadpleted his share of woods a long time ago and went home while Arvin stayed here cutting a log as mentioned in the quest. It took him a long time to finish his tasks. Now all his body was sore. Still, he had a proud smile on his face. He had the feeling that he would not be able toplete the task. But as he was able toplete them he was smiling. This was his first step towards greatness¡­ ''Hey Dobby, how can I ess the Rejuvenating pill?'' [Host just needs to think about the pill and it will appear in your hands.] ''That''s convenient.'' Arvin then thought of the pill and soon magically a brown color ball appeared in his hands. The pill was the size of an eyeball. At first nce, Arvin thought that it was disgusting. He then closely inspected the ball. It didn''t have a weird smell on it. It was odorless. Arvin believed in Dobby so without any second thought he ate the pill. The pill was a little spicy but it was nothing that an Indian like him couldn''t handle. But as soon as he swallowed the pill after chewing it, the spiciness in his throat vanished like it was never there, to begin with¡­ #SPICY now he got the sh*ts Chapter 16 - -15 Arvin didn''t waste any time after flying from there. He straight away started heading outside of Palm springs. He wanted to get away from here as soon as possible. He knew that he had killed a very strong and maybe a very influential man of the city. So he didn''t want to stay back and see the ruckus that he had caused. Now as he had two pieces of the key, he had to find two more pieces then he would be able to steal the riches of the sacred temple. But now he already had two pieces of the key, all he needs is to wait and watch. If he enhances his skill he would be able to steal the remaining two pieces whenever they are in one ce. So for now Arvin decided that he would now rank up his skills. He would prepare for the battle that wille when the location of the temple is revealed¡­?? ¡­. 1 monthter. Arvin made his home of operation in Gravy Falls. No matter how it sounds, but Gravy Fall was desert-like any other part of the second floor. It was a very small city. There were literally no powerhouses present in the city other than Arvin. So this made this ce the ideal ce to hide for a while. Beforeing to this city made sure that he got rid of the golden boy that he was carrying around in his inventory. He took out his body in between the desert. As a precaution, he made sure that he wearing the full battle gear while looting his corpse. He took everything away from the corpse he could loot and they came to this city. From the golden boy, Arvin was able to get his hands on many resources and money. So he was pack for some time¡­. During the 1 month, Arvin spent his time either studying or practicing magic. Seeing the magic performed by the ck fox and the power portrayed by that golden-haired man really sparked some fire in Arvin. He starting practicing like a mad man¡­. He knew that he was not invincible in Yggdrasil. But when he met the golden-haired man, his confidence took a real dip. If he didn''t have a poisonous mana stone bomb with him then his death was guaranteed. And he would have not been able to get out of there alive. And that man was also able to see through his illusion. Arvin trump card was his shapeshifting skills as no one had the power to see through it. But still, his illusion casting has never let him down. But this faithful day it did. Which made him realize that he still had a long way to go. His skill may be powerful. But they were not invincible. In this past month, Arvin also took time to practice with kunai knives and his ax. He didn''t want to spare anything while practicing honing his skills. He had also practiced his magic by hunting local beasts on the second floor. To have some challenges he had also challenged the strongest beast of the second floor countless times. And now he can defeat the strongest beast of the floor, within a minute or two. That brings him to the next step, to ascend to the third floor¡­. Arvin knew that though that the time hase for him to officially infiltrate the Aurora n. They have been a pain in his ass for far too long. And the time had finallye for payback. And while he was there he had thought that he should also gather information about the sacred council of the fennec foxes and get to find thest piece of the key. He knew that a piece of key is with the sacred council of the fennec foxes. And thest one is missing. So while he was there he would gather all the information that he wants¡­. ... STATUS Name- Arvin Level-340 Exp-60/100 Championof- Loki, God of Mischief Inventory-(Tap to expand) Quests-(Tap to expand) Skills- 1>Shape-Shifter={MAX} 2>Mana Meditation={Level-6} 3>Stealth={Level-3} 4>Fluid Body={MAX} 5>Illusion Casting={Level-2} 6>Fire Affinity={Level-3} 7>Soul Reading={Level-0} .... Arvin had made a lot of progress this month and he was too happy to see his status¡­. [I must say. I am impressed, Arvin. You have been working hard.] H said while Arvin was looking at his status. ''Oh¡­ A pleasure to have you with us today H.'' Arvin said. [I want to stay with you all the time. But as ruler of the underworld, I can''t stay with you and father all the time. So forgive me for that.] H said. ''No worries. Even without you, we are doing just fine.'' Arvin said. [Yeah¡­ Hey, wait a minute¡­ I wasst here a month ago right?] H asked ''Plus one or two weeks or so¡­. But yeah, thest time when I heard your voice was about a month ago'' Arvin said. [How the hell did you get this powerful in such a small amount of time?] H asked. ''Practice and hard work.'' Arvin said. [Father?] H said in an aliennguage which Arvin didn''t understand. {Yes I am here.} Loki replied in the aliennguage. [How the hell Arvin was able to be this strong in such a short amount of time?] H asked in the aliennguage. ''Hey, could you use English ormon tongue, please? It is very irritating when you talk about someone in a foreignnguage.'' Arvin protested when he heard Loki and H talking in an aliennguage. But rather than changing thenguage that they were talking in, Arvin stopped hearing the voices of Loki and H altogether. He understood what had happened. It seems that these guys were having a private conversation with one and another¡­. [It is too abnormal for him to get this strong this fast. I mean even with your fluid body which is known for its cultivation speed, the speed from which he is growing I am telling you, the other gods will be able to tell it in a nce that you have done something to him.] H said. {How do you know that this isn''t because of the influence of that monster. He is the general piece of that monster after all.} Loki said. [I know his apostles. I may not y this game more often but I have seen the highlights of the games. I know all the apostles of that monster. None of them can even hold a candle in front of Arvin. He is just too monstrous.] H said. {Well this is just because of my influence. That is why he is bing this strong this fast.} Loki said. [So why I am having the feeling that there is something that you are hiding from me? I know you father. I know your power. I know that monster''s power. But even with that, I cannot stomach that he is bing too strong with such a fast speed.] H said. {Don''t worry about it, my child. Everything is under control¡­}Loki said. [Okay¡­ Wait¡­. What the fuck is this?] H asked. {What know?} Loki asked annoyingly. [I just went through his memories¡­ He is feeling in love with alcohol¡­. Why is he feeling in love with alcohol?] H asked. {Ask him¡­.} Loki said. [I am controlling his system. While you are with him all the time. He may have been born to be a general piece of that monster. But due to both of our influences, he should have been able to take characteristics of either me or you. So why the fuck is loving alcohol that much?] H asked. {Again ask the kid¡­} Loki said. [He naiveness¡­. His anger¡­. His behavior¡­ Father tell me right now¡­ What the hell did you do? He is bing more and more like that monster. He is inheriting his curses. Why is he not inheriting our curses?] H asked {What!!!}Loki said in a high pitched low tone voice¡­ [Father¡­ I want the truth¡­ What did you do?] H asked seriously¡­ {OKAY!... Damn it¡­ When he was born, I may have altered him¡­}Loki said. [What you have altered about him?] H asked {I may have removed his I******** L******* of that boy¡­} Loki said¡­ [YOU DID WHAT?] H asked {I was not thinking straight¡­ I know I fucked up¡­. But that was the only way. That was the only way from which we would have been able to win this game once and for all.} Loki said. [But father¡­ You know right what would happen if the other pantheons get the winds of it? And most importantly you know what would happen if the Hindu Pantheon gets a wind of it? No matter how na?ve that monster is, he will surelye for your head.] H said. {Don''t worry about it¡­ I have everything figured out. Everything would be just fine. You just take care of your brothers. Leave everything else to me.} Loki said. Chapter 119 - -33 With the call of the tower, it was very easy to find the ascending tower. One just has to follow their instinct and they would reach the destination that they were looking for. With that Arvin took off from the gravy falls with the hopes to ascend to the new floor. In the past month, Arvin read almost all the books that he got from Stuart and Martha''s library back in Nekota city. So he already had an idea about how he should approach the uing events.?? Arvin now knew that the 3rd floor is also like a desert. But the desert of the 3rd floor is very harsh whenpared to the 2nd floor. On the second floor, thend here was like a barren desert. But on the 3rd floor, there are some patches of barrennd but other than that the whole floor is covered with sand. That makes it very difficult to travel through the desert. Arvin had made some preparations and now he fends off anything thates his way¡­ ¡­ After two days worth of traveling, Arvin finally started seeing the red horizon. That showed that he was near his destination. From the books, Arvin came to be aware of the red gulf of the second floor. The red gulf is a tall rock formation on the second floor. The special thing about them is that they are as tall as the ascending tower. From the books he found out the ascending tower of the second floor is embedded in the gulf. And to ascend one can either take the ascending tower or climb up the gulf¡­ The second floor and third floor are made like a structure of a staircase. And the red gulf is the step. So one can either climb up the step or one can take an elevator. It is totally up to the individual. But either way, Arvin was happy that he would be able to ascend now¡­ Seeing the red gulf after a very long flight gave Arvin felt great relief. He felt excited on the same level when he gets his hands on a fancy wine bottle. He increased his speed and started flying at a very fast speed. But as he got closer to the gulf a notification pop for the Arvin¡­ [Congrattions yer on getting this far. Based on the yer''s strength you are eligible for a Bonus Ascension. Would you like to continue with the Bonus Ascension? Y/N Please note that you will not be able to back down in any circumstances. You would have to go through the Bonus Ascension] Arvin looked at the notification he didn''t understand what was Bonus Ascension. But he could see that the term Bonus Ascension was highlighted in the message like it was some kind of external link. So Arvin tried to click on the highlighted term and soon enough one more messaged popped up in front of Arvin¡­ [Bonus Ascension- When a yer surpasses a certain limit of strength, he/she gets a chance to ascend through Bonus Ascension. In this type of Ascension to the other floor which is very difficult to perform. Normally when ascending one would have to fight the guardian of the beast. But in the Bonus Ascension of this floor, one had to fight a very stronger version of the guardian beast, as well as perform a task that would be given by the system. If a yer is able to pull off the Bonus Ascension then he/she would be entitled to a special price that was designated to the floor. Every floor has a Bonus Ascension option. And every floor offers different rewards for the Bonus Ascension. ] Arvin understood the meaning of the message. He understood what was Bonus Ascension. Thinking about the pros and cons of the situation Arvin decided that he would like to choose the option of Bonus Ascension. Arvin understood how much he is capable of. In the past month and he had spent a lot of time working on himself. And he was feeling confident that he would be able to ascend without any difficulties. So Arvin closed the message box exining what was bonus ascension and clicked on the ''Yes'' option thus choosing the Bonus Ascension. As he closed the ''Yes'' option another message screen appeared in front of Arvin¡­ [Tasks toplete: 1>Fight the guardian of the second floor. 2>Climb up to the third floor using the red gulf. ] [Please note that you would have to fight the guardian of the second floor before you start climbing the red gulf. You just have to touch the red gulf and you woulde face to face with the guardian of the second floor.] Reading the messager Arvin understood what he had to do. So for now Arvin changed his direction towards the nearest city. That city''s name is Kwaab City¡­ Kwaab city was a city that is very close to the Ascension tower. As it was very close to the Ascension tower, it was a very good ce to cultivate. As well as it was located near the tower so various strong beasts of the floor could be found near the city. That is why just like Arcane city this city was also known for hunting beasts. Many stronger warriors of the second floor could be found in this city. So Arvin had to stay low while resting in the city. Arvin wanted to be at his peak condition before he takes a swing at the Bonus Ascension. So Arvin had decided that he would rest up here in this city for a day or two and then he would go on ahead. Arvin had read about this city from a book that he got from the library. ording to that book, this city as well as the Palm springs were the two major cities on the second floor. This city sells everything that a warrior could need, from weapons to potions and from battle gear to waterproof underwear... After altering his direction a little bit, Arvin was able to reach Kwaab City after a 12-hour journey. Arvin was thinking that as he was able to see the red line on the horizon it meant that he must have been pretty close to the red gulf. But he was wrong. While calcting the time he would take to reach the red gulf, he didn''t consider the size of the red gulf. It was very tall,parable to an Ascension tower. So although Arvin was able to see the outline of the red gulf, it was pretty far away. That is why it took around 12 more hours to finally reach Kwaab city. Even though he reached the Kwaab city, the red gulf was some distance away from the Kwaab city. Arvin was very tired after the long journey. So as soon as hended in the city, he quickly wore his clothes, disguised himself, and started looking for an inn to stay¡­ Arvin arrived at the city around the time when it had started going dark. The city had juste alive from the activity. Arvin was very intrigued by the city and he wanted to explore it, but he ignored it all and started looking for an inn. Because of the courtesy of the golden-haired man, Arvin was not short on money nor he was short on resources. When looking for the inn, Arvin didn''t have any preference about the kind of inn that he would like to stay in. So when Arvinyed his eyes on the first inn that he found, he immediately booked a room there and happily went to his room to have a good night''s sleep¡­ ¡­. While in one of the fancy inns of the Kwaab city, Xander was sitting and having some wine. He had stayed back on this floor for a month now. And yet he could not find any clue about the whereabouts of Gracie and herrades. He had already learned that she was involved in some incident in Palm springs. So she had be a fugitive on the second as well as on the third floor. One of the customers of the street had recorded the whole thing from that they were able to recognize that the fennec fox in the video was in fact the city lord of the Nekota city. Many people have been looking for her. And yet a month had passed and there is a report about her sighting or anything. Xander thought the Grahmin n would rethink their partnership with Gracie. They would retract their support for her. After all, they wouldn''t do that then they would be going against the Bahamut Empire. But till no such statement or gesture had been given out by the n signifying that they had retracted their support. That puzzled Xander¡­. ording to him if the Grahmin n isn''t withdrawing their support that meant that either they are too dumb or they have reasons to believe that Bahamut Empire would not be able to do anything to them. And that was a very scary thing to think about. Chapter 120 - -33 Going out of the limb and protecting Gracie from the Bahamut Empire was not a thing that Xander could ever imagine the Grahmin n doing. So their support to Gracie could only mean one thing¡­ They have someone''s support from which they could get away from the wrath of the Bahamut Empire. But the only question was who? Xander had been staying here for a month because he and his team are doing 24 hours surveince on the ascending tower. He had reason to believe that Gracie is still on the second floor. And she tries to ascend, Xander would capture her and take the piece of the key that is in his possession.?? While Gracie is a concern for Xander, he is also on the lookout for the man responsible for killing a guard captain at the Palm Springs, the Merchant¡­ A man around 6 feet 2 inches tall, wearing ck battle gearbined with a golden mask is the reason that Alman, the son of General Ruth had died. It seems like it was just yesterday, Xander got this news. He also got a photo of the culprit with his bounty letter. General Ruth offered 1000 mana stones for his dead body. That was a very crazy amount of mana stones. But Xander did not pay any attention to it as his main concern at that moment was the movements that the mutts of the third floor were making. But just a few dayster he got the news of this man again. He was spotted in Palm Springs and ording to intel, he killed a Rank-1 Magus. Now that is a scary man. He looked like an assassin and probably is. But the main thing that Xander was concern about was the fact that he was spotted when the Rank-1 Magus came in contact with Gracie. That was the most mind-blowing about the whole incident. Xander knows that this guy, the Merchant is a very powerful man. But from the looks of it, this guy is just acting behind the scenes. A man capable of killing a Rank-1 Magus would need any underhanded techniques to kill Alman. But ording to the report that he got, Alman was killed in a very sly manner. So why would a guy powerful as he would kill Alman with deception? Why would he protect Gracie in Palm Springs? And that guy, whom Xander fought. The guy can be anyone''s doppelganger. Who was that? Was he working with The Merchant? Or was he someone else. Although Xander had taken full precaution in choosing his team, he just couldn''t shake the feeling that maybe that doppelganger is around him somewhere. He doesn''t know where exactly, but he is somewhere nearby¡­ The conclusion that Xander could reach was that this guy is just a puppet. And the real puppeteer behind this whole act is someone else. And from the looks of it, he is enough powerful to control Grahmin n. And maybe he is enough powerful that he could take on, Bahamut Empire. So the question now remains¡­. What to do next? ¡­.. General Ruth is a very powerful Rank-2 Magus of the Bahamut Empire. She has outstanding rtions with the other noble families of the empire. Everyone both respects and fears her. And it was very astonishing that although became this powerful, she was from the 1st floor. She was born there. She then went through battles after battles and then she was able to reach the stage she was now. It was a verymendable feat. After marrying a baron from the Empire, she made a foundation for her house. And now with her house, she had be a truly influential figure in the Bahamut Empire. She had the reputation of being a cold-hearted bitch that could trample everyone in her path. And she had all the power to back it up. But any citizen of the Bahamut Empire would be very shocked to see the scene in front of them¡­ A blond middle-aged beauty d in silver armor was bowing in front of a man. Her eyes of that beauty were crystal blue and those eyes usually sparkled with ambition. But right now they were filled with fear¡­ The blond beauty was bowing in front of figure n in dark. He had covered his face and every other visible organ. But he was emitting such powerful energy that she could not felt but just whimper. Talling over her, the ck figure spoke in a male voice¡­ "I heard that you are one hell of ad in on this floor. Is that true?" the man asked. "The people tend to think so sir. But I can assure you that I know my ce." The woman replied. "General Ruth, do you why I came here and not directly to the emperor?" the man asked. "I don''t know sir," Ruth answered. "Well, the thing is that the emperor has a habit of procrastinating a lot. While you on the other hand are like a dog. You would do exactly what I tell and how I tell you. What do you think¡­ Rudy? Is that the truth?" the man asked. "It is true sir. I am dog¡­ *woof woof*" Ruth said. "Good. I like straightforward people like you. Now, I will be very very thorough with you. I want you to find an earthling. He goes by the name Arvin. That is the only information I have. So whenever you find a guy name Arvin you contact me. You would be rewarded very dearly if you help me find him. Do you understand?" the man asked. "Y¡­ Yes¡­" Ruth while she finally started crying¡­.. Right now that man and Ruth were standing in the middle of a battlefield. Around, Ruth and that man were piles of dead bodies just piled and turned into mush. In these pile were allies of Ruth while it also had the enemies that Ruth hade here to fight. Before even the war began, the war was over. That man crushed everyone that was originally was present here. And only left her alive¡­ Ruth was filled with anger and agony. But she could help but shiver in front of the man that was standing here in front of her. She didn''t want to meet this again in her life¡­ "Very good then. Take this¡­" the man said while tossing a small iron coin. "Crush this when you actually find something." The man said¡­ ¡­.. Lord Viserys is the head of the Grahmin n. He got some connection with the inner circle of the sacred council of the fennec foxes. That is why he was the first person to know about El Dorado and everything about it. He is a very resourceful man, that is why he was the first to know about the crazy old fennec fox that ims to be the guardian of the sacred temple. He contacted Gracie and signed a deal with her. everything was going ording to the n. He had thought that he would get enough resources that he could easily massacre the Aurora n and be a leader of the third floor. But his ns came crashing down when the Viscount of the 5th floor contacted him. The Viscount wanted him to find the temple and the key to open the temple. And in return, he had promised him to make him and his n the sole overlord of the third floor. This was a very sweet deal. But Viserys is a very clever man. He understood that if Viscount is willing to go help him to this extent then that would mean that this temple had something that he wanted very dearly. But Viserys was no fool. He knew that Viscount has enough power and resource that he could eradicate the whole third floor in a blink of an eye. So that it would be better for him to just give the Viscount whatever he wants. And he was offering a pretty sweet deal too. If Viserys finds the temple and gets the key then he and his n would have been the target of the whole third floor. And if he gives the location and key to Viscount then not only he could show that Grahmin n has a very strong backing but also he would get many resources from which he could train the uing generation to their full potential. But then the Palm Springs incident happened. When Lord Viserys was informed about the misdeed of Gracie he was very furious. Gracie had already informed him that there was a man named Bakemono that has two pieces of the key. And as that man was able to kill a Rank-1 Magus, this situation became something that Lord Viserys cannot handle alone. So he contacted the Viscount. In return, Viscount happened to send two of the man from his army to take care of that man¡­ Which led Lord Viserys to ask a question to himself¡­ What is in the temple that is so precious that Viscount wants it so dearly¡­. Chapter 121 - -34 After sleeping to his heart content, Arvin woke up in his room. He looked out of the window. From the brightness outside, he assumed that it was still noon. He then got up and then stretched his legs and body and then got ready. He disguised himself in the form of the cruel middle-aged man and checked out of the inn. He had decided that first, he would go shopping. He needs food and water for the upper floor. He still had a lot of water but it was better if he could buy some more. So Arvin started roaming around the market and went on a shopping spree.?? He bought a lot of food, water, some extra clothes, ropes, boots for sand, etc. After shopping Arvin was free now, so he thought that before going to the red gulf why not find out more about the recent events. While he was at it, he would also like a map of the 3rd floor if he can. The map of the second floor had proven itself quite useful. That is why he would also like a map of the 3rd floor. So Arvin changed his disguise again. He changed himself to an old man with a military haircut. He then started roaming around the city asking big shops about the map of the third floor. But none of them had a map of the third floor. But one of the shopkeepers gave Arvin a clue that the biggest inn of the city was owned by a man that had ascended once. Then he came back and now runs that inn. There was a very small chance that Arvin would be able to get his hands on a map there, but he could at least try. So Arvin started making his way towards the inn¡­ The biggest inn in the city is called Heavenly Pce. It was 5 stories tall building which looked very luxurious. Arvin was impressed as he saw that building. He then started strolling inside the building. He had to pay 2 gold coins as an entry fee, but he didn''t mind it. As he entered the inn, he saw that there was a huge reception desk in front of him. While on the far left there was a dark hallway in front of which there was a lovey board¡­ DESIRE CLUB Besides the name, there were three signs made on the board. One of the signs signified alcohol. While the other two signified male and female. Curious about what the club was Arvin started walking towards it. At the end of the hallway, two bulky men were standing. "What would you like to have today sir?" one of them asked as Arvin got near him. "I would like to drink something," Arvin said. "This way sir." the man said then he opened a gate to his right. Arvin walked into the room and saw that this room was like a club. It was very dark. It had several females walking here and there with revealing clothes. While some were in old naked. As Arvin entered the room, a swarm of women got attracted to him. Everyone tried to charm him by showcasing their breasts. But Arvin ignored them all and started walking towards the bar. Although he was very tempted by the offers of those lovelydies, he had a task on hand that he had to aplish. So he didn''t want to waste any time here. He went towards the bar and sat on one of the stools there. He sat next to a guy who had his head down and looked like was sleeping on the bar table. Arvin ignored him and called out to the bartender. The bartender was a woman who was practically naked. But there were some stickers attached to her nippr area and crotch area to hide the valuables. And that was technically naked. Arvin ordered the most valuable wine that they had. He paid upfront so the bartender was more than happy toply with his order¡­ "FUCK!!!" the man beside screamed with frustration. And then raised his face from the table. It was then Arvin noticed that the man screaming beside him was none other than Xander himself. "Woah Woah¡­ Easy their big guy." Arvin said nonchntly. "I am sorry. It is just that, I am a little bit frustrated right now." Xander apologized to Arvin. "It is ok. I tend to scream when I am too frustrated. But I never thought that the calm and intelligent Xander of the Aurora n would have a mental breakdown beside me." Arvin said. "You know me?" Xander said. "You are a famous guy. Of course, I know." Arvin said. "Once again I am sorry¡­ I just got a piece of very frustrating news. So I am just a little bit over the edge¡­ Maybe I am not in my right mind. Maybe I should go now." Xander said. "Wait¡­ Come on. You are frustrated. I have heard that talking to someone about your problem may help you get calm." Arvin said. As he said that a fennec fox that was also buck naked returned back with a ss of wine. Arvin knew that to gain Xander''s trust, this is the best chance that he will get. Arvin had heard the talk between city lord of the Dry Wind City and him and Xander was a hell of a racist. He didn''t like fennec foxes a little bit. Arvin didn''t know the reason for his hatred but as he heard and seen for himself that he was racist, he didn''t need anything else to know. When the fennec fox put the ss of wine in front of Arvin, he took the ss aside¡­. "FUCKING MUTT! How dare you touch my ss. Bring me another one that is not tainted by your filthy hands!" Arvin screamed. The bartender was shocked as Arvin threw the ss. When he screamed at her, she started crying a little bit and ran off. The whole room was filled with silence as they heard what Arvin said. But none of them tried to confront him... "You fucking hate that too?" Xander asked as he saw how Arvin reacted. "Yeah¡­ Mother fucking mutts. Trying to be cozy with me. If it was up to me, I would have skinned that bitch alive and piss all over her." Arvin said. "What is your name, my friend?" Xander asked. "Wine Seller," Arvin said. "That is your name?" Xander asked. "Well the organization that I work for, don''t really allow me to give someone my name. So hence my name is Wine Seller." Arvin said. As he said that the bartender from earlier appeared again before Arvin and served him some wine. "What organization would that be?" Xander asked. "You don''t wanna know," Arvin said while sipping some wine. "If you don''t want to tell me, then it is ok. Here let''s cheers to our friendship" Xander said while bringing his ss of alcohol closer to Arvin''s wine ss. Arvin also smiled at his gesture and then they both clinked their sses together. "So tell me, my friend. Why the hell a man like you is doing down on the second floor?" Arvin asked. "Oh, nothing¡­ I have been hunting for a man. You would have heard about him¡­. You know the Merchant." Xander said. "Then you are on the wrong floor, my man. You should be on the upper floor to catch the Merchant." Arvin said. "On the upper floor?" Xander asked. "Yes. Thest time I heard, the Merchant was on the 40th floor." Arvin said while sipping his wine. "You know who the merchant is?" Xander asked with disbelief. "Of course I know who he is. Everyone from the upper floors had heard about him. He was a very dangerous man." Arvin replied. "Well, he killed the son of General Ruth. And thest I heard that he was at the Palm springs. So maybe he is on this floor." Xander said. "No¡­ No¡­no¡­ That is Bakemono. He is sort of like a henchman of the Merchant." Arvin said while acting that he was getting drunk. "REALLY?" Xander asked. "Yes¡­" Arvin said. ¡­ At first, Xander asked many questions about the Merchant and what he does. Then asked who was Arvin and how do he know him? But Arvin only answered the relevant question about the Merchant. Then they both shifted the topic to mutts called the fennec foxes. Then they started talking about work and stuff. Arvin and Xander spent the next 4 hours talking. In that talk, Arvin was able to get the maps of the third floor for free. Xander had one map and he was not using it so he was more than happy to give him that map. Then the topic also shifted to the sacred temple of the fennec foxes. From what Xander told him, the Aurora n seemed to give a lot of incentives to catch Bakemono dead or alive. He then also told him that the atmosphere of the third floor right now¡­. Chapter 122 - -35 Xander was intoxicated by the alcohol. But even in the influence of alcohol, he didn''t give away any information rted to the sacred temple or the pieces of the key. And Arvin didn''t push him either. If Arvin would have forced him to talk about the keys then it could have blown Arvin''s cover. Considering that Xander had seen Arvin in his transformed form he would never let his guard down in front of the stranger. But it turns out that the talk with Xander was more resourceful than Arvin thought. Xander told him about the Aurora n and his current enemy Grahmin n. They were supposed to be allies. But recently due to some events, they have be enemies. On the third floor, these two ns hold a significant amount of power and it could be said that they have equal footing. But they were not alone. There was a third organization that also had the same power as these ns.?? Sacred Council is the council that consists of fennec foxes. ording to Xander, they are the ones that hold the same amount of power as the Grahmin n and the Aurora n. And although Xander didn''t want to ept it but Arvin could feel that the Sacred Council was more powerful than these ns. And alone they would be nothing in front of the Sacred Council. Xander told him about the fact that every major decision that took ce about the whole fennec society is taken by this council. They have the highest authority. Xander also told him that their base of operation is called Stone City. It is a very vast piece ofnd that these foxes control. No human is allowed there under any condition. Xander told Arvin that if he goes up to the third floor, then he would find that the atmosphere is very tense there. As all of the three great powers of the third floor have started to grow resentment against one and other. While this could indicate a big war between them, that is why everyone is very tensed. All the small ns have already started taking sides. And almost all the ns have started preparing for the war¡­ ¡­ Arvin was sure that this type of general information would have its uses in the future. So Arvin was grateful that he met Xander here. Although he was not able to get any information about the sacred temple, he was happy with what he got. So after drinking till evening, Arvin bid farewell to Xander. He then went outside. Disguise himself back into the old man with a cruel face. Arvin saw that the night was upon him. he was also a little bit drunk with all the alcohol that he consumed with Xander. So Arvin thought that it would be better for him to ascend tomorrow when his head is in the right ce. So Arvin went back to the Heavenly Pce and checked in there again. ¡­ The next morning Arvin woke and felt refreshed. After a healthy breakfast, Arvin checked out of his room and then started his journey to the red gulf. It took around half an hour for Arvin to reach the red gulf. As Arvin got near the gulf, he also started seeing the ascending tower. But down near the ascending tower. Down by the ascending tower, some people have barricaded the entrance of the tower. Like the obelisk that he came from, this tower was also surrounded by a huge wall made from wooden steaks. Arvin didn''t get dejected by this. He already has gotten the message that to start his trial he just needs to touch the red gulf. So Arvin is down near a rock. He changed back into his human form and wore his battle gear and mask. He then went on to touch the red gulf. As soon as Arvin touched the red gulf, he vanished from his ce¡­ ¡­. After Arvin touched the red gulf he vanished from his ce and found himself in a desert. It was a sandy desert. Arvin understood that this must be the stage where the battle between him and the guardian will take ce. So Arvin became serious¡­ Arvin opened his guardian shield and raised it towards his head. On the other hand, he took out his ax and got ready in the battle stance¡­. The desert in which Arvin currently was too quiet. He could not hear, feel or sense anything suspicious. Previously the guardian of the first floor manifested himself from the ball of light. So Arvin was thinking that maybe a simr thing would happen for this floor too. But seeing that no ball of light appeared started making Arvin nervous¡­ {MOVE!!} Loki said abruptly. Arvin didn''t think for a second why Loki said that and followed his order. He jumped sideways from all of his strength. As Arvin moved a secondter a very big stinger of a scorpion came forward from the stand and plunged in the sand where a moment ago Arvin was standing. Arvin heard the stinger mming in the ground. So Arvin got up on his feet as soon as he can and then threw the ax that he had straight towards the stinger. Arvin''s throw although was powerful, it was not enough to sever the stingerpletely. Although still it was able to prate the stinger and lodged on to the stinger. As Arvin''s ax lodged to the stinger, he heard a very terrible noise which he assumed was the scream. Suddenly the sand started to move and a monster emerged out of it. Thie being had a torso of human while a face like a bug. While his lower body looked like that of a scorpion. As for the hands, that being had huge ws like that of a crab. As that being emerged from the sand, it flicked its tail or stinger thus throwing Arvin''s weapon away. But Arvin called back his ax. With his scorpion-like legs, that being then charged towards Arvin. It started cking his ws and started following Arvin. Arvin on the other hand started running instead of confronting it. Arvin had a little bit of idea about the body of a scorpion, thanks to the sand scorpion that he had killed beforeing here. That is why he started to run as he knew that he couldn''t attack head-on¡­ Sand Scorpions all had a special exoskeleton that is very hard. So Arvin had some problems earlier when he faced them. Because Arvin had learned a trick. That exoskeleton on their bodies was so strong that his ax is was not able to prate its body. But under the scorpion''s body, there lies a portion of the body where the exoskeleton is not present. So Arvin just needs to flip this being and then attack him on his G-spot. While hunting the scorpions Arvin started calling the soft parts as G-spots or Grim-spots. These spots are very lethal to the strongest being on the second floor. So it was obvious that Arvin should name this special spot¡­ {So are you gonna fight it or will you keep running?} Loki asked. ''I making a strategy.'' Arvin replied. {So what do you n to do?} Loki asked. ''Alright, first I will try to flip that being.'' Arvin said. {Okay¡­} Loki said. ''I am afraid that its torso would try to resist but it won''t matter'' Arvin said. {Okay¡­} Loki said. ''But I will make sure that I would do something about the torso. Maybe I will smash it.'' Arvin said. {Getting darker¡­ But okay¡­} Loki said. ''Then I would take the ax and shove it very far up that being''s G-spot'' Arvin said {O¡­Ok¡­} Loki said while trying to control hisughter. ''As I have shoved my ax in his G-spot, then with force I will pull it right back out. And the blood that wille from that glory hole¡­ Then I would shove it in again! And then again take it out again! And then I would repeat the process till¡­'' Before Arvin could say anything more, Lokipleted his sentence¡­ {THE BIG CLIMAX?} Loki asked still controlling hisughter. ''I was going to go with bloody carnage but the big climax sounds better too.'' Arvin said. {*HAHAHA*} Loki then couldn''t control himself. He startedughing hysterically like a maniac. While on the other hand, Arvin had no idea what was heughing about. He then started thinking back about what he said. It was then he realized that maybe Loki isughing because THE BIG CLIMAX sounded a lot like someone was talking about sex. Arvin then sighed as Loki could have at leastughed at something more funny and mature¡­ Arvin then while started weaving a magic circle while running here and there. He made the fireball magic circle very small so that rather than doing any damage, the fireball could act as a distraction. As the magic circle waspletely weaved, Arvin then fired it by after he abruptly jumped sideways. When Arvin jumped sideways, he turned around in the air and fired the magic circle straight towards the monster''s face. Chapter 123 - -36 After throwing the fireball towards the monster''s face, Arvin started weaving another magic circle. He had made a n that after stunning the monster with a fireball to his face, he would weave another fireball with more power. Then he would send that fireball straight towards the lower side of the monster. This fireball would be able to flip the monster thus revealing his G-spot. But Arvin''s n failed as the monster blocked the iing fireball with one of his ws, while it sent his stinger straight towards Arvin. Arvin was very sure that his attack would work. That is why he was invested in making another big fireball straight away after his first attack.?? Arvin when saw that huge stingering towards him, he used his guardian shield to block the attack. That attack was very fast so he was not able to evade the attack. When the stinger hit the shield it made a very loud nking noise¡­ BAAAM The force of that attack sent Arvin flying backward¡­ After Arvin covered some distance he came to stop. From that attack, Arvin''s hand started shaking. While the guardian shield also sustained some damage. Arvin didn''t waste any time. He got up very quickly while suppressing the pain of his hand. While Arvin got up, that monster also had started making its move. It started running towards Arvin''s current position. That monster was running towards Arvin at full speed. And as he got close to him, he tried to grab Arvin with his ws. From the attack earlier, Arvin''s mind was already in disarray. Although he got quickly, still he was still in disarray. He regain his focus when the monster hade dangerously close to him. And when that monster attacked with his ws, Arvin did not have any way to evade or block the attack. So he took the attack head-on¡­ That monster mercilessly grabbed him and used his sharp ws to crush him. As the monster crushed him, he thought that he was victorious. So he screamed while looking up. But it was then it noticed that although as he crushed the body he was not able to feel anything flesh crushing between his ws. That monster then raised his hands to see what he had crushed. He saw that there was ck color battle gear between his ws. It has been torn by his ws¡­. "MOTHER FUCKER!!" Arvin shouted when he came down towards the monster with his ax in his hand¡­ Arvin knew that he could not stop or evade this attack. So the instant that w came dangerously close to him, he transformed into a fly. Then he flew to height so that he could have enough momentum when he attacks when he fells. When Arvin reached the required height, it was then he saw that the monster had torn his battle gear. He was very enraged by this¡­ Arvin transformed back into his human form and came crashing down on the monster. While falling he took out his from his inventory. And when he came down he swung his arms with full force and cleanly cut off on the ws of that monster''s hand. The monster screamed with pain when his hand was cut off¡­ SCREEECH!! Then Arvinnded buck naked on the hot sand. The hotness of the sand didn''t faze Arvin. As he was more enraged by the fact that the monster tore his battel gear. So as Arvinnded he didn''t waste any time, he quickly turned around and threw that ax, straight towards the torso of the monster. That monster was still in disarray when Arvin dismembered his arm. So he was not able to see the ax approaching his torso. So the ax struck straight on his chest. That ax was not able to prate the chest fully but still, it got stuck on his chest. That monster then regained his focus as Arvin''s blow struck his chest. He looked in his front to check what Arvin would do next. But to his surprise, he was not his front. That monster then turned to his right where his dismembered arm was lying. It was then he saw that Arvin was there with his hand. When the monster looked at Arvin, till then Arvin had already grabbed his hand. Then with his full strength, Arvin swung that hand and straight towards the monster. And that monster was not able to evade that attack. His own w struck that monster straight on his face. That blow flung the monster to his left. And due to this blow, that monster finally lost his footing and fell down on the ground. The way the monster fell it exposed his lower side wide open. Arvin thought that this must be the best chance that he would ever get to take down this monster. He then quickly called back his ax, which was lying by the side. When Arvin struck the monster with his own w, the ax was also thrown away by that blow. So Arvin called his back his ax and started running towards the G-Spot of the monster buck naked. The time has for the big climax. Arvin raised his ax and with full force, he swung his ax towards the Gspot of the monster. His attack pierced through the skin of that monster and cut through his G-Spot. Arvin''s blowpletely cut through that G-spot making arge hole in the lower part of the monster. Green color blood starteding out of the monster''s lower part like it was a loose fire-hydrant. When Arvin saw that so much blood wasing out of the monster''s body, he thought that maybe the worst is behind him. The battle is over. But it was then the dangerous stinger of the monster came flying towards Arvin. Arvin was able to jump sideways to avoid the attack. And then he ran outside the monster''s range¡­ ¡­ Arvin waited for a minute or two. When he didn''t saw any more movement from the monster he assumed that it was no death. So he ran straight towards the tattered battle gear to pick it up. As soon Arvin touched his stuff he vanished from his location and appeared outside the red gulf again. It was then Arvin noticed that he was still buck naked. He wore his pants and then he turned around to look at the red gulf. He started thinking how the hell he was supposed to climb the whole thing as he did not the first thing about rock climbing. As Arvin was thinking about what he should do, he saw some rocks starteding out of the red gulf making a pathway to the top. The rocks that came out were very small. But they were big enough so that a person could use them to climb up to the top. Arvin smiled as he saw those small rocks, and then he jumped towards the rocks and started climbing with full speed ahead. But it was then Arvin noticed that something was wrong. As Arvin was gaining height his weight as well as the mana in the atmosphere was increasing drastically. With his weight, the pressure on his arms and legs had also started increasing drastically. Arvin understood that this was the game of endurance. So he did not stop nor he checked how much he had climbed. He just kept on climbing. While climbing, a moment came when Arvin started feeling that his hands had started bleeding. But that didn''t stop him. He still kept climbing up and up¡­ After 5 hours of torturous climbing, Arvin was able to climb to the top. As Arvin reached the top he had already lost the sensation of his arms and legs. He understood then that although the red gulf didn''t look like much, climbing it is a very difficult feat to do. Arvin when reached the top he lied on his back while huffing and puffing from exhaustion. It was then Arvin received a notification¡­ [Congrattions onpleting the Bonus Ascension.] [yer had reached the top in record time.] [yer has been awarded top-level bonus awards.] [yer is allowed to choose any one of the following awards. 1>Ice affinity 2>Space affinity 3>Full repairment of yer''s gear.] Arvin looked at the list. Although he was tempted by all the rewards he had to chose one of the rewards¡­ ''Loki what do you think? What should I chose?'' Arvin asked {It is up to you. You decide.} Loki said. ''I just want your opinion.'' Arvin asked. {Dude I am your teacher, not your master. You have to make this decision yourselves.} Loki said. ''Fine¡­ Hey if I am not wrong then Space affinity is very rare. Right?'' Arvin asked {Yes. That is true.} Loki said. Arvin then started thinking about what he should choose. And after thinking for a long time, Arvin chose the option that he thinks would be the best for him¡­ ''Okay, I have made the decision.'' Arvin said. Then he moved his finger and clicked on the option that he thinks would be the best for him¡­ Chapter 124 - -37 Space affinity is a very rare affinity. And it was amon fact that it was a very strong power. But Arvin was not that interested in that affinity. It was because of theplexities and rareness of this attribute¡­. From the books that Arvin had read, there were many instances when he heard about the magic rted to Space. They were very powerful and their power for destruction was highest in the list of all affinities. But there were a very small amount of runes that could be used by this affinity. Thus making it very hard to gauge the power of this affinity and thus use.?? Space affinity is so strong that there are no simple runes that could be used to cast a magic circle rted to space affinity. Only Royal and Imperial runes could truly bring out power from a Space affinity-rted magic circle. That alone showed that how strong was Space affinity. So when Arvin saw that there was space affinity in the list of rewards he wanted to chose it straight away. But when he started thinking carefully about it, he understood that this would have been a very stupid choice if Arvin would have gone with it. The simple reason for this would be theck of runes¡­ Till now Arvin had not mastered the use of Simple runes. Although it could be said that he had already mastered Hemo runes but they far were simpler to master than any other runes. And till now Arvin had note across a book which showed or told about the use of Imperial or Royal runes. That meant that those were very rare books. So until and unless Arvin finds a book that gave a detailed description about Imperial or Royal runes, Space affinity is useless to him. But on the other Ice affinity was very useful to him. Ice affinity is not rare as the Space affinity, and there were some simple runes from which this affinity could be used. So it meant that Arvin could start using Ice magic straight away. As for thest option about repairing his battle gear, it would be a waste if he chose that option. So Arvin concluded that the only useful option right would be the Ice affinity. So Arvin decided that for now the best option to chose would be the ice magic. ¡­. As Arvin made his decision he moved his finger and clicked on the option that he thinks would be the best for him¡­ As Arvin clicked on the Ice affinity he started getting notifications from the system¡­ [Congrtions! yer have been awarded Ice affinity.] [Due to the yer''s bloodline and system Ice affinity has changed into ''*** ***''] [yer''s strength is too low to control ''*** ***''.] [Locking the ''*** ***'' for now for the host''s safety.] Arvin looked at the notifications that have pooped in front of him. He then looked at the notification another time. Then Arvin brought some water from his inventory and washed his face. He then once again looked at the notification that has pooped up¡­. ''WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK IS GOING ON HERE!'' Arvin screamed. {Woah¡­ It seems like I did fuck this up.} Loki said. ''You know what is happening?'' Arvin asked. {I have some idea.} Loki said. ''Then what the fuck is going on here? And you could have at least warned me that something like this might pop up.'' Arvin said. {I didn''t have any idea that something like this would happen.} Loki said. ''You¡­ And what the hell did you mean that you fucked up?'' Arvin asked. {You are too small and insignificant to know that.} Loki said. ''I am smallll¡­.. BITCH! I JUST LOST A BIG BONUS LEVEL REWARD! I COULD HAVE CHOSEN THE SPACE AFFINITY! AND HERE YOU ARE SAYING THAT YOU ARE TOO INSIGNIFICANT TO KNOW WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE? ARE YOU DUMBASSS MOTHER FUCKER!'' Arvin screamed. {Don''t push it mother fucker.} Loki said in anger. ''Or what? Huh? What the fuck are you going to do?'' Arvin asked. {ARVIN THAT IS IT. DON''T PUSH IT.} Loki said ''What the fuck are you going to do? Huh?'' Arvin asked {DON''T PUSH ME ARVIN. I MAY END UP DOING SOMETHING THAT YOU MIGHT REGRET LATER!} Loki said. ''Try me.'' Arvin said. {That is it.} Loki said. ''What? Huh? Chickened out?'' Arvin asked. {¡­} ''What happened mother fucker? Did someone catch your tongue? What happened?'' Arvin said. {¡­} ''Bitch.'' Arvin said while spitting¡­. Arvin don''t what had happened but he was getting angry and angry as the second passed by. Normally he was a very chilled guy. But right now he was getting angry and angry by second. It was like that his anger was channeled into him by someone. From inside Arvin knew that this was not something that he should be this angry about. After all, it was a small thing. He should not fight with Loki for such a significant thing. But he did know why but anger inside of him was increasing and increasing¡­. Arvin needed to let off some steam. So he thought that he should look for some beasts to hunt. Or in fact, any living organism would do. Arvin then took off his pants. He wanted to turn into an eagle and then fly off. But when Arvin tried changing to an eagle, but for some reason, he was not able to transform. This only fuelled his anger. Arvin tried and tried but for some reason, he was not able to transform¡­. Arvin tried and tried but he was not able to do transform no matter what he does. He started getting irritated from his disability. From the start, Arvin had been too dependent on his Transformation skill. After all, it was a cheat the only cheat in his arsenal that was too OP. But now as he was able to use the skill he was getting frustrated and irritated. Arvin then opened his status and what he saw there blew his mind¡­ ¡­.. . STATUS Name- Arvin Level-209 Exp-60/100 Championof- Loki, God of Mischief Inventory-(Tap to expand) Quests-(Tap to expand) Skills- 1>Shape-Shifter={MAX}{LOCKED} 2>Mana Meditation={Level-6} 3>Stealth={Level-3} 4>Fluid Body={MAX} 5>Illusion Casting={Level-2}{LOCKED} 6>Fire Affinity={Level-3} 7>Soul Reading={Level-0}{LOCKED} 8>*** ***={MAX}{LOCKED} ... Most OP and useful skill that Arvin possessed was locked for some reason. He didn''t know why they were locked. It was then he realized it¡­ Loki. As Arvin understood what happened he started feeling more and¡­. He started feeling that everybody in this world is here to make his life more and more difficult. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Arvin screamed in frustration¡­ [What the hell are you doing?] H asked when she came from nowhere. ''Ask your mother fucking father. He locked my abilities somehow. And here I am stranded here.'' Arvin said. [He did what? Why did he do that?] H asked. ''Because he is a mother fucking piece of shit!'' Arvin said. [Alright Alright¡­ Do you feel like that you are getting angry because of no reason at all? Are you feeling that you should be calm at the moment but for some reason, you can''t calm down?] H asked. ''YES!'' Arvin said. [Alright¡­. Arvin listen to me very carefully. I would suspend my connection with you. It would probably take a month to re-establish the connection. Until then your abilities would be locked. So make sure that you survive. And I am extremely sorry for doing this.] H said It was after that, Arvin started feeling calm. He started feeling normal again. With his calm mind, he felt that he should probably apologize to Loki for his rude behavior. He then called out to him. But for some reason, nothing worked. Loki was unresponsive as well his system¡­ ¡­. In a big mansion located by a calm and soothingke, General Ruth of the Bahamut Empire was drinking tea. It has been a rough couple of days for her. She may have won the war but she had also lost all of her allies in the previous war. They were all killed by that figure in dark clothing. Emperor was furious after that war. But as he didn''t have any power to do something to that figure, he concentrated all of his anger onto her. For now, General Ruth had managed to calm the Emperor down. But still, the news of a whole battalion being eradicated was a very devastating news for the whole empire. And all of this happened because of an earthling called Arvin. Seeing all of this Ruth was getting curious about what kind of guy this Arvin is¡­ While Ruth was drinking tea, the butler of her family came to see her¡­ "Madam." The butler said. "Hmm¡­" Ruth mumbled. "Mistress I havee across something that might help find the person named Arvin." The butler said. "What?" Ruth asked as she became interested in the conversation. "Madam you see our men followed young master Alman''s footsteps to know more about his life before his death. It was then they came across this." The butler said while handing a poster over to Ruth. That poster was the poster of Arvin with his deformed face¡­. Chapter 125 - -38 As Ruth saw the poster, she saw that this was a bounty poster. It was mentioned in the poster that this deformed figure was wanted dead or alive. And the person in the poster is said to be referred to as Arvin. It was the same name that the ck-cloaked man mentioned¡­ "What do you know about this guy?" Ruth asked.?? "Our men contacted me as they saw the poster. Then I instructed them to find out more about this guy. Our men uncovered that this guy is an earthling. During the ritual of God''s pir, he was selected as an excellent ability user. But he ran away after that. Because of his deformed face, no one was willing to take him. But the young master eventually sold him. But then he ran away¡­" The butler said. "What happened then?" Ruth asked. "Well as the months passed by, young master men did not get any information about that boy. So they assumed that they died. But then resurfaced again. When Mistress sent some mana stones to the young master. Arvin stole those mana stones from under the nose of young master Alman. That is why young master printed this bounty poster." The butler said. "That is absurd¡­ Did he steal mana stone from an acolyte? How the hell did this happen?" Ruth asked. "Apparently those men didn''t have any idea how he pulled it off. Arvin not only stole the safe in which the young master was keeping the mana stones, but he also stole all the sacks of grains and other food items that were stored in the storehouse." The butler said. "A spatial artifact? How the hell did he get his hands on a spatial artifact?" Ruth asked. "That itself is a mystery mistress. And apparently, young master Alman had a big fight with him. He was able to injure him. But none of the men present there were able to find any trace of the intruder. They still don''t know how the hell he entered the premise." The butler said. "It seems to me that someone was trying to use the name of the earthling to con my son. Because I don''t think that there is a way in hell that someone would be able to pull off something like this without any prior training." Ruth said. "I agree. But madame the thing is that after that no one had heard or seen this earthling ever again. It was like that he vanished from the face of the Yggdrasil. Maybe the guy which exploited the name of earthling took care of Arvin." The butler said. "Hmm, that is most likely is the case. But just to be sure, take this poster and give out a heavy bounty on this guy. And send it to all the floors. I have to be sure before I contact the being again. Follow every leads that you get about this man''s whereabouts. Don''t leave any stones left unturned. If this guy is dead then I want his body. And if he is alive then I want him alive." Ruth said¡­ ¡­.. Arvin promised himself that if a dayes where he would meet Loki in person, he personally make sure to choke him till he died a very horrible death. Arvin liked and respected Loki as he was the one guy that made him what he was today. He was the one guy that gave him the strength to stand up for himself. But he was keeping too many secrets. Like Arvin''s angry fiasco a few hours ago. He did not get any valid exnation from neither H nor Loki about what had happened or how it happened. Arvin knew that it was not his fault that he became so angry. After all, it was not in his nature to get so angry because of something like this. He had a feeling the H had an idea about what could have happened. But she did not tell him anything. And she also left him¡­ Arvin checked out, he was able to use his inventory. So he wore his clothes and started walking towards the general direction of the Ascending tower. It was a good thing that Arvin had already made some arrangements for this floor, so he would be able to survive in this desert for a month or two. But the thing that troubled Arvin was the fact that he could not transform. That was the main problem. He had been ustomed to moving around here and there without getting in eyes of anyone. But his face is known throughout the whole third, due to courtesy of the Aurora n. Now as he cant transform, he had to make sure that he doesn''t fuck up¡­. ¡­ Arvin ventured through the sandy desert for 2 weeks straight. While going through the desert Arvin tried and tried but he was not able to talk to either H or Loki. No one replied. Arvin always thought that one day woulde when Loki would have to go away and he would be left alone in this world. But he didn''t think that the day woulde this soon. And it may be the heat talking about he was kinda missing that bbermouth¡­ It was only after two weeks of continuous travel, Arvin came across something that raised his spirits. He found a piece of paper¡­ In the vast sandy desert finding piece of paper was not a big thing. It was not even a significant thing. But it still raised Arvin''s spirit because when he opened the paper he found sticky snot in it. It was still sticky and yucky. Arvin''s spirit was raised because the snot was sticky. Based on the temperature of the desert this snot should have be solid or would have evaporated it has been here for a long time. But it was sticky which meant that wherever this roll of paper came from, it was recently thrown here recently. Arvin then started to search the ce around the area where he found the snot for more clues. And he did find the exact paper a few meters north in the direction of the previous location of the paper. He then looked for more clues in the opposite direction but he couldn''t find anything else¡­ In the sandy desert, footprints get vanished with time. So Arvin had no way to finding out in which direction the person who threw this paper went. So now he to gamble in which direction he should go¡­ He could walk in the direction of the ascending tower. This way he would be able to reach his destination. But there was no way to tell about how much time it would take. So Arvin thought that taking a gamble was a way better option than walking aimlessly. So Arvin started walking towards the direction where he found the second paper. And his gamble pay offed¡­ Arvin walked in that direction constantly and he eventually came across an encampment¡­ Arvin came across a very big camp. He could see various fires in the camp. If he had to estimate then he would say that are around 100 people in the camp¡­ Arvin was not clear about what he saw. But ording to his eyes, he could see that these guys were using an animal that has a mouth of hippo and body of camel as their mounts. Arvin was tempted to steal one of their mounts and get out of here. But several people were taking rounds to secure the camp. So all he could do now was to watch from the far away. Arvin didn''t have his abilities or otherwise, he could have infiltrated the camp by now. That is why he thought that it would be better to keep his distance from now. Now Arvin regretted not buying a telescope on the third floor. If would have bought a telescope then he could have searched for any weak spots in this encampment¡­ Lying on his belly Arvin was thinking about what he should do? But then he started thinking that it was futile to lie here and wait for some miracle to happen. So it would be better if he changes his vantage point for now. He should change his vantage point and look for any holes in the encampment¡­. So Arvin moved from one sand dune to another. And soon he came to sand dune which was very close to the camp. To make sure that he doesn''t get spotted, Arvin took a dirt-colored nket from his inventory and covered his body with it. And then he started slowly crawling towards the camp. Still hiding under the nket Arvin was making his way towards the camp, it was when he heard something. Someone was walking up to him. He knew that even without his abilities he was very strong. So he would be able to handle anything thates his way. But there was no way to tell that whether this camp has someone of his caliber. So Arvin''s heart started beating faster and faster. From the sounds, it seemed like more than one person was walking towards him¡­. Chapter 126 - -39 Arvin''s heart was beating faster and faster. He knew that his cover would be blown as soon the people behind him would see the area where he was lying. After all only an idiot would not be able to recognize a sand color nket lying on the ground. Arvin didn''t know whether these people would be hostile or not. But he didn''t want to take any chances. He took his kunai knives. He thought when these guys woulde closer he woulde out and pounce at everyone. Arvin was waiting for the right moment, but that moment never came. As Arvin was lying he heard an explosion. He then sensed the people that wereing towards him started running towards the explosion.?? As he sensed that there was no one beside him, he came out of the nket. He then looked towards the camp. He saw that the whole camp was on fire. People were screaming and running around. Some people were fighting with each other. There was total chaos. Arvin looked at the campsite, then he started thinking about what he should do? Looking at the people that we''re fighting, Arvin started thinking pros and cons of this situation. He did not know what he should do? But it was then he got it. While these people were busy fighting why not steal one of the animals that they came from. After all, having a mount was way better than walking in an endless desert. So Arvin while crouching started running towards the ce where the mounts were kept. As Arvin came closer to where all the mounts were he saw that all the mounts have started running here and there from the explosions and fire. All the mounts had either ran away. But as Arvin was getting dejected he saw that two mounts came running out of the campfire¡­ The mount that was running in front was being ridden by a man and woman. They both had their faces covered so Arvin didn''t have any good look at them. While the mount that was following them was ridden by a woman and a child. The woman also had her face covered. While the child looked like a 9-10-year-old girl. But as these guys were passing by, a green ming arrow came flying from one of the men from the camps and shot the woman with the child. As the arrow hit her she fell down from her mount. Arvin didn''t know why but the mount also came to a stop when the woman fell. Arvin looked at that and smiled. This was the chance that he was waiting for. He made a run for the mount. With the mount in his sights, he started running towards it. While the men that were attacking the camp saw Arvin running towards the mount, they started shooting arrows at him. Arvin was still a level-209 warrior so he was able to evade the arrows with ease. Arvin when came towards the mount, he saw that the woman was lying on the sand with an arrow on her back. While the kid was desperately trying to drag the woman out of here. Seeing that kid and her desperate attempt to save the woman, made Arvin sorry for them. Arvin didn''t know why but when he came towards the mount, he grabbed the kid and the woman in his arms and then jumped on the mount. And as soon as he jumped the mount started running with full speed ahead¡­ ¡­ Maybe it was the human side of Arvin thatpelled him to take this step. But he did it. While running away, Arvin could feel that the child was biting his arms and was trying to loosen his grip around her. But it didn''t pained that much¡­ After some time she stopped struggling. Arvin wanted to make sure that he didn''t have any pursuers do he didn''t stop the mount until he found a decent ce to hide¡­ The mount kept running for 4 hours or so. Arvin would p the mount when he started getting slow to increase its speed. But now the pping was not working that meant that this mount was getting tired and it would not be able to run any further without proper rest. Arvin looked around but he was not able to see anything from which they could take cover. So Arvin noted the direction that he was going. And after noting the direction he changed the direction of the mount and started heading towards the tallest sand dune that he could find. As Arvin stopped the mount, the mount instantly fell down on its knees with Arvin still on his top. Because of this the kid, woman, and Arvin fell to the ground as well. As Arvin and the kid fell, the kid broke away from Arvin''s grasp and stood up. She looked at Arvin ring daggers at him. He didn''t what happened to her, but she then ran towards Arvin and jumped on him. She started pulling his hair and started scratching his face. Arvin got irritated from her action, he threw her on the grounds with force. That action alone was enough to stun the girl. Arvin then crouched down and took some rope that he brought on the second floor. He then binds the little girl with ropes. After binding her, Arvin looked at the woman that was still lying on the ground. If he wanted to help her, then he would need to make some light. Arvin took some dry wood that he got from the first floor and lit a fire. He then dragged the woman closer to the fire. He unmasked her. When the cloth covering the face was removed he saw that the woman in question was in fact a fennec fox. Right now that woman was sweating like she was in a sauna. Arvin checked her temperature by touching her forehead. It was then he felt that she was burning up. She was suffering from a very high fever. Arvin then rotated her to check up on her wounds. Previously Arvin broke the arrow that was lodged on her back. He knew that if he takes the arrow out then she would bleed out very fast. He may don''t have a chance to save her. So he broke the backside of the arrow and let the arrowhead still stay inside her body. Now on her backside, he could see that arrowhead was still lodged on her back. While the flesh around the arrowhead had started bing ck. While the nerves around the wound have started bing ck. Arvin looked at the wound and instantly knew that this was the effect of poison. He had read a book about poisoning so he was 100% sure that the woman was poisoned. Arvin then understood that maybe letting the arrowhead in her system was a bad idea. But as she was hers, Arvin decided that he would try to cure her. While Arvin was thinking about what to do next he saw that child was struggling very hard to get close to the woman that was lying in front of him. As he saw her struggling he promised himself that he would try to help the woman to the best of his abilities. As an orphan, he understood the pain of living alone. He knew the pain of not having to be loved. So he decided that he would try his best to cure the woman. Arvin first took a small knife, with which he took out the arrowhead. After that, he took a purple color potion that he got from Arvin. ording to the book that he had read, this potion is poison dispelling potion. That book also mentioned the uses and against which poisons this potion is effective. Arvin didn''t know much about the poison which was affecting thisdy. So he took a shot thinking that maybe this potion would be helpful. Arvin sprayed some potion on the wound. This made the woman scream in pain. She started struggling, but then Arvin held her tightly. Arvin waited to saw that some of the ck veins have started to disappear. Seeing that Arvin understood that this potion is effective against this poison. So Arvin took the machete that he brought on the first floor. He then kept that machete on fire and started heating up. As the iron of the machete started bing red hot, Arvin took out the machete and pressed it on the wound of the woman. From this woman screamed in pain, but Arvin held her tightly. He then brought some red color potion that was healing potion. ording to a book that he had read, to cure such a wound one has to mix poison dispelling potion and healing potion at a certain ratio and then give it to the patient. Arvin made a brand new potion. He then started feeding it to the woman by putting the potion in his mouth and feeding it to her by French kiss. Chapter 127 - -40 Arvin helped that woman to drink up half of the potion with his mouth. As he finished half of the potion, her symptoms started getting better. Her high fever was started going down. She was not that sweaty anymore. But Arvin saw that small goosebumps had started forming on her skin. Which meant that she was getting chilly. Arvin then took out a nket from his inventory and threw it over the woman. After rechecking the woman, Arvin turned around to see the child. She was looking towards Arvin. She had tears in her eyes. Arvin then walked up to the girl. It was time for some healthy chatting¡­?? From the moment Arvin took the girl and the woman, till he tied the girl with ropes, the girl did not speak a single word. She did not even scream when Arvin was binding her. Which made it very obvious that the girl was incapable of speaking. Which meant that she was a mute. That is why Arvin tied her whole body but left her face as it is¡­ "Can you understand me?" Arvin asked the girl. To this question, the girl just looked at him with no clue whether she understood him. "If you understand me then I need to tell you that the woman is dead. And now I am gonna eat her dead body." Arvin said. As he said those words, the girl started sobbing hard. She literally started making tears of the size of a marble¡­ "Good. That means you understand me. I was kidding she is alive. I was just fucking with you." Arvin said. He was already suspicious that this girl may be a mute but she was not deaf. That is why he yed a little game with her. As the child heard his sentence she stopped crying and started looking at him with her angry gaze. "Now listen to me carefully kid. I will set you free. Then I will go feed whatever the fuck that is." Arvin said while looking at his mount. "The woman is fine. She was poisoned. But I took care of her. She would live, I think. I am not a doctor so I can''t guarantee anything. So please don''t get your hopes up. " Arvin said while looking at the child. "When I release you, I need you to go and look after her. Okay. And if you see anything happening to her, you call me. Got it." Arvin said. To this, that girl nodded her head. "And now remember, I have only given her half of the potion that could cure her. One would need to feed her all of the remaining portion of the potion to make her well. Now when I let you go, you behave. Or I would not give her all the potion. Do you get what I am saying?" Arvin asked. To this girl nodded her head. Arvin then let the girl free. He had shown her that he would not harm her or the woman in any way. In fact, he helped the woman in front of the child to gain her trust. He didn''t who was that child or who was that woman. He helped them because he could. And by helping that woman and the kid Arvin was feeling happy. But it was then he felt sense some killing intent in the air. Sensing that he knew that the enemies have caught up to them. Arvin then got up and walked up to the girl who was sitting by the woman was looking at her face with a tinge of sadness. He came down to ear level and said¡­ "I gotta go and do some hunting. Take care of her in the meantime." Arvin said. Then he turned away and started walking towards the direction he sensed some mana¡­ Arvin gained some distance between his camp, he shouted¡­ "I know that you are out there. Why don''t youe out and fight me man to man." Arvin shouted while looking at the ces where he could sense mana. Arvin waited for a few seconds. But as no one came out from hiding, Arvin understood that he would have to get his hands dirty¡­ "FINE SUIT YOURSELF," Arvin said. Then he took out kunai knives and started running towards his nearest target. As he came closer to the target he jumped in the air. While in the air, he threw the kunai knives towards the mana signature that he could sense. With Arvin''s strength, that knife prated the sand and pierced the person that was hiding in the sand. As Arvin felt that his knife had pierced the man he pulled the chains to get the person out of hiding¡­ "GET OVER HERE!" Arvin shouted. As the person came out of the sand, Arvin fell onto the person and he punched the man straight on the face making him fall to the ground. Seeing that Arvin was able to sense theirrades all the other men starteding out of their respective hiding ces. Arvin looked at the people that havee to kill him and the women with her. He could sense that there was no one in these people that could pose a threat to him. So Arvin with a big grin on his face, Arvin started running towards them¡­ With his kunai knives, Arvin started running towards them. In return, those people also started running towards Arvin. Everyone took out their respective weapons as they all knew a fierce battle was about tomence¡­ ¡­ Roughly after 5 mins after the battle started Arvin returned to the camp. There he saw that the girl had fallen asleep with the woman. Arvin smiled as he looked that the peaceful face of the girl sleeping with the woman. Arvin then went on to fed the mount some of the grains that he had as a leftover from the raid on Alman''s mansion. And after feeding the mount, Arvin started cooking his own dinner. He took some of the meat that he has stored in his inventory and started cooking out. While cooking Arvin started thinking about Loki and H. Since he had lost contact with them he had started thinking about what he should do next if they didn''t appear ever again? Loki was his teacher and he was the one that taught him all about magic. With him gone, Arvin''s magic practice is bound to suffer. Arvin also understood that till now he had relied on the shapeshifting for far too long. ording to what H had told him, his abilities woulde back in some time. But what if H was wrong? Arvin had to be prepared for the worst. So Arvin started thinking about the events that he should work on while either his abilities started working again or Lokies back. So he started formting ns about what he should do next to stay out of trouble and how could he move around without gathering any attention to himself. While thinking about his next steps Arvin looked at the woman that he had picked up. He first thought that maybe these guys were some random travelers who were just attacked by bandits at night when they were camping. But after fighting those men out there, Arvin thought that maybe this was not the case. These men were strong, not as strong as him, but were still strong. That showed that ording to the standards of this floor, these men could be considered elites. So what were they doing running around a helpless woman and a kid? It didn''t make any sense. All that he could conclude from the facts in front of him was that these women were either hiding something valuable with them or these guys are not what they appeared to be. Arvin may have saved them, but now he is faced with a question¡­ Should he stick with them? Arvin had to stay low for the time period. And moving around with women that are wanted by the elites of the floor was that not the way to stay low-key. Arvin first thought that maybe he should leave them with enough water and food to survive. Then he should get out of here. He should just abandon them here. But if does that then that would mean that he had wasted his precious potion on the wrong woman. So that would be a huge bummer¡­ But it was then a strange thought came to Arvin''s mind. He knew that the fennec fox and other ns don''t see face to face. They all had a huge rivalry between them. Assuming that the woman is from the fennec fox''s n then she could help him give him sanctuary from the Aurora n. After all, they were the only one that was after him. He thought that maybe he could use these women as a chip of bargain in getting him sanctuary. If he gets sanctuary then that would mean that he would be able to change his status as a wanted criminal.¡­. Chapter 128 - -41 The injured woman''s condition improved by the dawn but still, she was unconscious. Arvin didn''t know what else to do to make regain her consciousness. The only thing that he could do was move on. Whening from the first floor, Arvin had stored some wooden poles in case he has to make a hut, in case he needed a hut. He took some of those poles out and tied them up together to make a board-like structure. Arvin then lifted the woman and made her lie on the board. He then covered her with a nket. He nned that he would tie this board on the mount. With this, the mount will pull the board behind him as he moves. That woman was unconscious and there was no way hell he could travel with a woman in her condition on a camel. She would need all the rest that she could get. By the morning the child seemed to have started trusting Arvin a little bit. He could see from her eyes that she was still a little bit wary of him. But who could me her? In the morning both Arvin and the girl had some roasted meat as breakfast. And then the time came to move on. Last night when Arvin saved the girl and the woman, he redirected the mount in the direction where the man and the woman fled on the other mount. As they came out of the camp together, he thought that maybe they were rted. He had nned that he would hand over these two to those two and move on with the mount. But now it seems that it was not possible. Arvin hade so far from the camp and yet he had not found any signs of both of them. So now he didn''t know what to do next? He could resume his march towards the ascension tower. But then what would he do with these two? Even if he starts moving towards the ascending tower then what if this woman dies in the middle if her condition worsened? That is why having breakfast Arvin was thinking about what should be his next move. It was then he had an idea¡­ After breakfast, Arvin sat with the child with a map of the third floor opened up between them¡­ "Now I know that you can understand me. So I need you to give me some answers. You understand?" Arvin said. To which girl just stared at him giving him no response of any kind. "I would assume that you understood what I was saying. So do you know in which direction should we go?" Arvin asked. Same as before, the girl looked at Arvin with a nk face. "Look I need you to understand something. I am not a doctor. That woman there is injured. And she needs immediate medical attention. And I cannot give that to her. I gave her a potion that could cure her poisoning. But if any otherplication urs then I am sorry I won''t be of any help. So if you know in which direction we could move then you should tell me right now." Arvin said while putting thepass in front of her. Arvin assumed that there was a very small chance that this girl might know where they should go. After all, she was just a kid. But if she does then she would be of great help to him. So Arvin thought that it wouldn''t be very bad to ask her directly. The girl then got up and pointed towards a city called Blue city. Arvin looked at the city in question. He then turned towards her and asked¡­ "You know the direction to this city?" Arvin asked. To which girl shakes her head, refusing. "Is this ce your home or somece where he could get help?" Arvin asked. To this, the girl nodded her head with approval. "Did your caravan was moving towards in the direction of this city?" Arvin asked. To this question, the girl nodded. That was it. Arvin got the direction where he needs to go. Arvin packed all the nkets and started moving towards the camp where they ran away from. But instead of going back by retracing their steps, Arvin nned his path such that he would be able to bypass the camp by a huge distance. This way he would be able to avoid anyone that was still lurking around the camp. He was happy that he noted the direction that he came fromst night. Arvin wanted to stay away from the camp as he didn''t want to get involved in this whole situation. So After trekking for about 6-7 hours slowly, Arvin came to a ce where he could see the burned camp. But he was some distance from it. So Arvin from there continued his journey towards the direction the caravan was moving. While moving Arvin let the girl sit with him on the mount while the woman was left covered with a nket and was being dragged on board by the camel-like animal that Arvin was riding. And it was during the evening the woman in question finally regained her conscious. ¡­. Arvin was riding the mount while reading a book about magic circles when sensed movement from behind him. He saw that the woman in question had woken up and was sitting on the board looking left and right. Seeing that Arvin stopped the mount and climbed down the mount. The kid also climbed down and was very happy to see that woman had woken. As soon as she came down, she came running towards the woman and gave her a big hug¡­ "Tamaria¡­ You are fine? Are you hurt somewhere?" the woman said while hugging the girl back. As the woman hugged the kid, it was then she realized that she was hugging her barechested. She was not wearing anything on her torso. Which made me curious about why was she naked. It was then she noticed the presence of Arvin. The woman stopped hugging the girl and she pushed the girl behind her back. Looking at this action, Arvin smiled and said¡­ "Don''t worry. I am not into little girls." Arvin said. "Who are you?" the woman asked. "Well, ites as a surprise to me that you don''t recognize me¡­ It seems that I am not that famous." Arvin said. After this woman was the only person that didn''t recognize him after seeing his face. "Wait¡­ You are Lopt. The wanted criminal by the Aurora n." The woman said while standing up and taking a defensive stance while protecting the girl behind her. "You know the only crime that I ever did was drink saher450. It was a travesty. And it was the only major crime that I ever did." Arvin said. But his sentence didn''t calm the situation a little bit¡­ "What do you want?" the woman asked. "Well for starters you should say that ''I want you to say thank you with the bottom of my heart''. I did save your life and your kid back there yesterday night." Arvin said. "You saved us?" the woman asked. "Yes. You can ask the kid on your back. She was there during the whole procedure. I detoxified you poison that you got from the arrow. And then stitched you up real good." Arvin said. "Is the truth?" the woman asked Tamaria. To which she replied yes by nodding her head. Then the woman turned towards Arvin and asked¡­ "Why did you help us?" she asked. "I don''t know. I wanted to steal the mount and get the fuck out of there. But I felt like that if I would make a big mistake if I leave you out there. So now you are here." Arvin said. "Well, I am grateful that you decided to help us." The woman said. "Ok¡­ That isn''t a thank you but I will take it. Now how are you feeling?" Arvin asked. "I am fine. Where are we going?" The woman asked. "Well, Tamaria over here told me that you guys were heading towards somewhere called the Blue City. So we are moving towards the city''s direction." Arvin said. "Blue city? Ok." "Cool. I think we should camp here right here. We have a lot of distance to cover. And quite frankly you could need a good meal." Arvin said. "Ok¡­ And one more thing¡­ Where are my clothes?" the woman asked. "Well during the procedure to save you I have to cut off your clothes. And as for the reason the I didn''t your melons again as I think that they look good unrestrained." Arvin said and then he went away to make a camp¡­ Arvin fed the mount, created a fire, and then set up the tent. While on the other hand that woman and kid were busy talking to each other. They were talking in signnguage so Arvin didn''t understand what they were talking about. But he thought that it was rude of them that they were letting him do all the work while they gossiped with each other on the side. Chapter 129 - -42 Soon the day was over and night came. Arvin had erected a tent that he bought on the second floor. He thought that as the woman was still ill, she could use a good night''s sleep in the tent. That tent was big enough for three people so the Tamaria could also amodate her in the tent. While he could sleep out here. While setting up the tent Arvin didn''t forget to wear a ring on his finger. After all, he didn''t want them to find out that he could summon items out of thin air. As this was a very special asion Arvin took out the meat of the special creature that he hunted on the 1st floor. The Fierce bird. Arvin wanted to try its 5 feet long drum stick for quite a time now. And this seems like an appropriate time. Arvin wanted to show the girl that although he is a wanted man he is not that bad. From this, he wanted to get on the good side of the woman. because if she or the girl turns out to be someone important, then they could help him to clear his name. Arvin then took out cooking equipment and started preparing the 5 feet long drum stick. As he was preparing the drum stick he saw that Tamaria and the woman came and sat beside him¡­ Arvin was going toment on how they could have helped him and all. But as he was going to say something, he felt a chill run down his spine. He then started sensing some strong mana signatures that wereing towards him and the camp. Arvin was going to tell the girls to get ready for battle. But he stopped in between when he saw a whistle hanging from Tamaria''s neck. Arvin instantly recognized the whistle. He had seen that whistle when he was going through the books of Martha and Stuart. Apparently like dogs, fennec foxes can also hear a high-frequency whistle. So they use this kind of whistles to call each other and send signals. Arvin had not seen that whistle in Tamaria''s neck before. So she got the whistle a few moments ago¡­ Then Arvin sensed that high-level mana signatures stop around 120 m away from them and then they stayed hidden. Arvin could sense killing intent from these people directed towards him. While there was no killing intent targeted towards the girls. That meant these guys were here for him and not for the girls. It was then Arvin started connecting dots. After all, it would be weird why some guys that were after the girls just a moment ago now want to kill him. It was then he finally connected all the dots and understood what was going on here¡­ "What the hell is that?" the woman asked. "This is a leg piece of a Fierce Bird. It was a veryrge bird found on the 1st floor. I hunted quite a lot of them before I came here." Arvin said. "You directly came to this ce?" The woman asked sarcastically. "No No¡­ A guy helped me sneak to the second floor. And then from there, I came here." Arvin said. "I speaking sarcastically." The woman said. "Oh," Arvin said. "If you don''t mind telling me what are you doing out here? I have lived in a world for far too long. And I have a very hard time understanding why a man like you is here helping us?" the woman said. "It is not wrong to help a stranger. It is the noblest deed that anyone could do." Arvin said. "Yeah¡­ I am not buying that. You helped us because you need something from us in return. Spit it out, what do you want." The woman said. "Are you some sort of bigshots that could give me money for your rescue?" Arvin asked. "¡­." "Thought so. I don''t need anything. Wait I do need something. I want you to go and fuck up the so-called Aurora n. Those mother fuckers made my life hell." Arvin said. "ording to them, you are a very dangerous criminal that they want to be found alive. ¡­ So what did you do?" The woman asked. "NOTHING¡­ That is the tragic part of my story. I did nothing. I collected some money and had my mana tested. The next thing I know is that my mana sensitivity is 1. And believe it or not that is the highest score that a person could have. And then I went to the jungle to train for 2 months. And then BANG¡­. I became a wanted man." Arvin said. "That is it?" the woman asked. "Yeah. The Aurora n ordered one of the prominent families of the 1st floor to be kidnap by and a man that helped me. They thought that I would be mad enough to go back there to help that old man¡­" Arvin said. "Which you were not?" The woman asked. "Oh no, I was¡­ I went back. But a friend helped me." Arvin said. "How?" the woman asked¡­ "After I got tested for my mana sensitivity, I was approached by a man. He asked me whether I was interested in working for him. I said yes¡­ There he taught me some things which ultimately made me stronger. And when I got back and found out what happened, I was furious. I thought that first I should rescue the old man. It was then I found out that the old man was not a hostage. To lure me in they were treating him very nicely. So I left him there." Arvin said. "Just like that?" The woman asked. "Well, my friend assured me that he and his men would take care of the old man. And I trusted him. That is why I am here." Arvin said. "Who is this friend?" the woman asked. "Well for starters he called himself Bakemono. He said that he works for a guy that is called The Merchant." Arvin said. As the woman heard what Arvin said, it piqued her interest. So she thought that she should ask him more questions about the Merchant. "Wait you said that you started working for this Bakemono guy¡­ So wouldn''t that imply that you are working for the Merchant?" the woman asked. "In a sense¡­. But I am not officially hired¡­. You see ording to Bakemono I am no na?ve. So he said that if you can make it up to the 10th floor without his help and within the next 3 years then he would hire me." Arvin said. "Huh?" the woman frowned. "Yeah¡­ That was the same reaction. But ording to him, it would be very essential to do this as it would build my character. Could you believe that guy?" Arvin said acting naively¡­. "Did he tell you anything else about the Merchant?" the woman asked. "No¡­ But enough about me, tell me about yourself. I don''t even know your name. What is your name? And I don''t whether I should be asking this were any of your family members in the caravan?" Arvin said. "No¡­ They are all in the blue city." The woman said. "Oh, that is good. I am d that your family is safe¡­ By the way, I didn''t get your name?" Arvin said. "It''s Velma. My name is Velma." the woman said. "Nice to meet you, Velma. So what does your husband do?" Arvin asked. "I am single," Velma said. "Really?..... I mean that is sad¡­ What happened to Tamari''s father?" Arvin asked. "Tamari is my sister," Velma said. "I KNEW IT!... I mean you didn''t look that old. I mean I never guessed that you are a mother¡­ You look very beautiful and and¡­ And um¡­ I mean you didn''t look like you could have birthed a child. I mean it is not that you could have birthed a child¡­ You would have made quite a good mother if you want to be¡­ And And¡­ DINNER IS READY!" Arvin said when he looked at the drumstick that had been roasted properly. Velma looked that at Arvin who was carving the huge drumstick. Although he looked and was an idiot he was very strong. That is why when she woke up, she immediately used her emergency signal and called for help. Now her people were surrounding the camp and were waiting for her orders. Velma had to decide what she should do with him. He was a famous criminal on the third floor. She did not know whether she could trust him or not. From the time being that they have spent together she had concluded that he was an idiot. But that idiot has saved her life. So she wanted to reward him. But she didn''t know whether she could trust him or not. In the end, she decided that she would decide what to do with him in the Blue City. There she would decide his faith. Chapter 130 - -43 As Velma made up her mind, she signaled Tamari. That little girl understood what was Velma meant and she blew the whistle that was hanging from her neck. Arvin noticed when Tamari blew the whistle. Yet he still pretended that he was carving the chicken piece. As he was carving the piece, on the other side of the camp a ck-cloaked fennec fox came towards the campfire this revealing itself. Arvin pretended that he just noticed that ck figure. He then took out his saber that he got from the golden-haired man from the Palm spings. He then jumped in front of the girls to shield them. He pointed that saber, at the cloaked figure then he whispered¡­ "On my signal take Tamari and the mount and start running like wind. I will try to buy as much time as I can." Arvin said. Then the ck-cloaked fennec fox took out two knives that he was carrying on his either side. Then it got in a fighting stance. Seeing this Arvin screamed¡­. "NOW!" then Arvin, jumped on the cloaked figure while swinging his saber on the ck-cloaked figure. Arvin when came near the figure he deliberately didn''t exert his full strength on his swing. He let it seemed that he was as strong as the ck-cloaked figure. But as Arvin came near the figure he sensed that someone was casting a spell on his right. The spell casting was so fast that while Arvin was in the air ball made of water hit him straight on the face. That ball of water had something mixed in it as the ball hit his face, it instantly knocked him out. And he didn''t n that¡­. ... There is a pce made of ice in the middle of the underworld governed by the Aesir gods of the Norse Mythology. Cold winds blow around that pce and every year that ce is covered with ice. The pce is home to the goddess of death, H¡­ In the deepest part of the pce, there was a pool filled with ice-cold water. What was astonishing about this pool was that despite the envoirment being under -100 degrees celsius this pool didn''t have a shred of ice forming in it. If someone was to see this pool that they would be more shocked by the fact around 5 feet deep in the pool and a man dressed in a green tuxedo could be seen lying in the water. That man had a lean figure and long ck hair. It was at that moment that man in the pool abruptly opened his eyes. His eyes resembled that of a snake. But unlike most of the snakes, his eyes were dark green. As he opened his eyes, he was not shocked by the fact that he was in the pool. Slowly he started getting up on his feet and started getting out of the pool like it was the most normal thing to do. As the man got off his pool he snapped his fingers. As he did that his suit and had his hair dried up instantly. This man in the question was none other than the God of Mischief and Chaos, Loki. Loki then started venturing through the pce. He knew the whole pce like that back of his hand. So it didn''t take him too long to reach the throne room of the pce. Loki entered a huge hall that resembled a war room. On either side of the hall was filled with soldiers. But unlike normal human soldiers, the soldiers of this room were either made of bones and were a mixture of rotting meat and bones. As Loki entered the room, these soldiers ignored him. While at the other end of the room was a majestic throne made of bones and ice. While on the throne there was a woman sitting. She was wearing a blood-colored one-piece dress. Another noteworthy thing about the woman was that her face. One side of her face was like a woman in her prime. While the other side of her face was made of rotting flesh and bones. That woman was wearing a ck tiara on her head. This woman in question was H, the Goddess of Death¡­ "You came here early," H said as Loki came near her throne. "I had some setbacks," Loki said. "You abandoned ourst hope¡­ And not only you left him there, but you also locked his powers. I had to reboot the whole situation so that your lock could be removed. And you left him with any answers or anything else." H said. "I fucked up," Loki said. "I heard..." H said. "How is he doing?" Loki asked. "I don''t know. As the system went offline, my feed also went with it." H said. "I hope that he is alright," Loki said. "What happened, father? Getting angry like this¡­ I have never seen you like this before. What happened?" H asked. "I witnessed the consequences of removing his I******** L******of that boy," Loki said. "What happened?" H asked. "I just saw his Ice affinity change into I** L**," Loki said. "That early?" H asked. "Yes. I got frightened. I thought that maybe I made a mistake by doing this. I knew the consequences of my action, but I never thought that results would be this frightening." Loki said "What should we do now?" H asked. "Wait for the system to get online again. It is only then we could do something about this situation." Loki said. ¡­ It felt like it was just yesterday when Loki was ying in his father''s pce in Jotunheim. He was just a little boy who used to live with his mother Laufey and father F¨¢rbauti. They lived happily. Jotemheim thend of giants although covered in the frost was a very happy ce to be lived in. Governed by the Vanir Gods, Jotunheim was prospering. But that faithful day everything changed. The little Loki was running around in the pce with other children. But that day, he heard amotion. It wasing from the throne of his father F¨¢rbauti''s throne room. As he was well versed with magic, he infiltrated the throne room discreetly. And what he saw that day was so traumatizing that he remembers till to this day. The throne room was filled with wails of the women. While in the between of the throne room was filled with bodies of giants. Little Loki knew these Giants too well. They were all familiar faces that he had seen around the pce. One of the corpses belonged to his magic master as well. While women of these men were crying his father F¨¢rbauti standing in front of the throne with his head down¡­ "Those Aesir bastards¡­." F¨¢rbauti said in an archaguage. Listening to their king''s words one of the followers of the King came forward and asked¡­ "Your Majesty¡­ What could be interpreted with this? We send a peace treaty by the hands of these men. But those Aesir mother fuckers send us back their corpses. Does it mean that they want a war with either way?" he asked. "It seems this way. Those fucking war mongers¡­ EVERYONE! I must announce some things¡­" his father F¨¢rbauti said. Then he went around and sat on his throne. As he got back on his throne he sat on it and started speaking¡­ "Those mother fucking warmongers and their leader Odin have killed our people. By killing them they had officially have dered war on us. They are provoking us. Now the time hase to show those War Mongers what we giants are made up of. The time hase to show every realm that our realm may be the most peaceful realm of them all. But we are not weaklings. We would not be bullied by anyone. The time hase to show all the realms what we giants are made of. Sound the horn, sharpen your weapons and clean your armors. We have been challenged. Our dignity has been tarnished. The time hase to show those bastards what we are made up of. The time hase to who we are. WE ARE THE GIANTS!" F¨¢rbauti said dramatically. "FOR JOTUNHEIM!" one of the giants in the room shouted "FOR JOTUNHEIM!" everyone screamed. Loki always remembered that day. Because that was the day when the life that he knows changed for good. That was the day when all of Jotunheim joined together to fight the war with War-Monger and conquers, Aesir Gods. As everyone started chanting and hailing Jotunheim, Loki became very frightened. He fled from the throne immediately. He went straight towards the only person that could help him. And that was his mother¡­ Loki saw what happened to all the people that fought with those War Mongers. He was very concerned about what would happen when his father would go to the frontline. He started thinking about his mother thinking what if she might have to go to the front line. He didn''t want his mother and father to die. So he went to his mother thinking that she would be able to convince his father not to go to war. Chapter 131 - -44 The little Loki was very terrified by the fact that his father would go to war against those War Mongers. He had heard about what those people had done. They had already taken control over the 4 worlds out of 8 worlds of the Yggdrasil. To take control they had in all the rulers of that realm and take control over by force. Loki was a small boy, but he was very smart. He understood that the army of the giants does not have enough manpower to fight against the warmongers. And it was a natural thing as these warmongers were born to fight. While the frost giants such as him never have fought any in conflicts. Even in their realm, there are no internal conflicts. So it could be said that this war would be the end for the frost giants if they proceed with it¡­ Loki and ran and ran and finally, he came to this mother''s quarters. He knocked on the doors of her quarters. Soon the door was opened by a maid of his mother. The maid refused Loki''s entry. She told him that his mother was not feeling good and she wanted to be left alone. But Loki didn''t listen to her. He pushed her aside and went inside anyway. He ran towards his mother''s bedroom and as he opened the room to her bedroom he was greeted with a scene which he still remembers to this day¡­. Loki saw that her mother''s bedroom was in shambles. Everything was destroyed. Her bed, her wardrobe, and all the furniture of her room were torn apart. And there his mother was¡­ Loki''s mother Laufey was sitting in the middle of the room. She was sitting was in such a way that she was hiding her face behind her knees. He could hear her silently sobbing. Loki loved her very much. He had always seen her mother in an exterior of a queen. She had always been a confidentdy. She always wore perfect dresses with perfect hair and a perfect attitude. But as he saw this state he was shocked. As he sat there, her hair was a mess. Her dress was torn from ces. Loki couldn''t bear to see her in this state. He ran towards her and hugged her sobbing figure¡­ "Mother! Are you ok? What happened?" Loki asked. Feeling her son''s embrace, Laufey looked up to see that her small Loki was looking at her with a tinge of sadness on his face. She then hugged her tightly and started crying loudly. Loki didn''t understand what had happened. But seeing that her mother didn''t say or did anything Loki just quietly sat there and let her mother cry her heart out. But slowly his heart also started warming up and he also started crying his heart out. While Laufey and Loki were crying her heart out, Farbauti also came into the room. In the throne room, he was informed about the situation with the queen. So he left everything and came to see her. And as he entered the room he saw his son and his wife hugging and crying their heart out¡­ The Frost Giants were blessed with magic. Their race excelled in the use and control of magic. In their race, all the giants had their unique traits and unique affinities. But amongst those giants, some giants hold the title of sacred giants. It was because these giants had the ability to talk with the sacred tree Yggdrasil itself. The sacred tree Yggdrasil gave special abilities to those who could talk with it. The Mimir the smartest guy in all the realms got his smartness as he was able to talk with Yggdrasil. The Frost Giants were different. When those special frost giants talk with Yggdrasil instead of granting them knowledge like Mimir, Yggdrasil grants them the ability to see the future. Laufey was one of those special giants. She could peer into the future. When Farbauti heard about this incident he instantly that she must have seen something that must have shaken her from inside. As the frost giants were on the brink of the war with Aesir Gods, Farbauti figured that this would be something rted to the uing battle. So he left everything toe here immediately. When he looked at his son and her wife crying their heart, he instantly understood what could have transpired¡­ Farbauti came forward. First, he hugged his family tightly. They all sat there hugging each other for few minutes. It was after few minutes, Farbauti stood up. With him, Laufey also stood followed by Loki. Farbauti gave some signal to Laufey, which she understood. She looked at Loki and passed him a smile. That day, Farbauti and Laufey assured Loki that everything was alright. And everything would be alright. So he doesn''t have to worry about anything else. They forced him to go back to his room. Loki was too matured for his good. He understood that everything that his parents would say from now onwards would be total bullshit. They wanted to protect him. That is why they said all types of lies to him about how everything would be alright. Loki understood everything. But he didn''t voice his opinions out loud. After all, he didn''t want to burden his parents. So he epted their bullshit exnation and quietly left... ¡­ The uing few months were very difficult for the frost giants. The whole realm felt the effects of the war. In the icy region of the Jotunheim, it was very hard to grow anything. So during the war, the whole of Jotunheim faced an acute shortage of food and other vital supplies. Frost Giants had strong magic and were very powerful. But they were all very less in number. And with this amount of giant, the warmongers came like a tide and washed away all the giants. The frost giants started feeling like flies. But still, they were able to give enoughpetition to their warmongers that the warmongers started referring the giants as the greatest foes that they have ever fought. And finally, after fighting the warmongers for 5 years, Farbauti made a decision. That decision changed the faith of the whole of Jotunheim¡­ As a king, Farbauti knew that if this war stretches for some time more, then a race called the frost giants would perish from the face of Yggdrasil. In these 5 years, those warmongers have vanquished all the 7 remaining realms. They still have a lot of fighting power left. So if this war goes on then the frost giants would face a huge disadvantage. So he decided that he would bend a knee. He would surrender to those warmongers. As a king, he had the responsibility to look after his people. So he sent a message to Odin the leader of the warmongers that he would surrender and gave Jotunheim to them. In exchange, they have to stop their conquest. Soon the reply came. Odin epted their surrender. He said that he would be making a new realm of his own called the Asgard. And from there he would rule all his people and that would include the frost giants. But in the letter, Odin also expressed his concerns about rebellion. Farbauti knew that this was all bullshit but he still kept on reading. In terms of surrender, Odin mentioned that they would only ept their surrender when the price of all the frost giants of Jotunheim, Loki would be a ward of the Asgard. In simple words, it meant that Odin wanted Farbauti and Laufey''s son toe to live with him in the Asgard as the representative of the giants. But the real meaning behind Odin''s words was that he wanted his son as insurance so that Farbauti don''t try anything funny in the future. This was an outrageous request from Odin. Everyone in the court of Farbauti started shouted that how could they ask for such an outrageous thing. But Farbauti on the other hand stayed quietly sitting on his throne. It would be a lie if Farbauti denied that he didn''t think about this situation. In fact, he was sure that this would be the only thing that Odin would want. Farbauti knew that frost giants were very powerful beings. The only reason that Aesir gods were able to subdue them was that they were very little in number. Otherwise, if frost giants have the same number as their enemies then there was no way hell that Aesir gods would have been able to win against them. Farbauti knew this fact. So as a king he started thinking that if he was in Odin''s ce then what be the most feasible way from which he could ensure that his kingdom would be safe in the future? And the only answer he coulde across was to take an important giant as their hostage. And this is what Odin did. Chapter 132 - -45 Arvin woke in what looked like a jail cell. He was surrounded by the walls on all sides. On the wall that was in front of him, there was a door with a small peaking window at the top. This ce reeked to piss and excretion. While there was a small iron bucket by the door filled with water. Arvin remembered what happened the other night. He was pretending to fight the ck-cloaked man when he was attacked by a water ball which made him lose consciousness. That was a very dangerous thing¡­ Arvin realized it toote that someone was casting a spell at him. Usually, Loki used to help him in these kinds of situations. But as he was not here he was stuck in a smelly cell. As he was sitting in the small cell, he started to think about what should he do next? He had his gear and everything that he would need to get out of here. And he also had a poisonous mana bomb in his inventory. That could always help him. So he had to decide how should he y this out? If he runs away from here then he would have to show many of his trump cards. And if the word about his powers went out then it wouldn''t take these guys much long to know that he is Bakemono. He is the one that is responsible for Alman''s death and he is the one that has two pieces of the key of the sacred temple. And that was the situation that he didn''t like. Now as he had lost his ability to shape-shift, everyone on the whole floor would starting after him. And he won''t be able to survive that. Arvin then decided that it was better to act a little bit longer. There was a high chance that his act would not work. But it was a far better option than revealing his other identity. So Arvin got up on his feet and started banging on the door¡­ "OYE! Open up! Is someone out there? Open up! I swear to god if something happens to those girls that were with me, I will burn you all alive! You hear me! Open up mother fuckers¡­" Arvin started screaming while banging the door. He started pretending that he deeply cared about those girls. He knew that as he the people outside would hear his screaming they would tell their leaders about this. Maybe this caring nature would be able to turn some cards for him. So he continued banging on the door. It was about 10 minster of continuous banging, the small window on the door opened. From the small window, a female fennec fox looked inside and shouted¡­ "PRISONER! Put your hand on your head and face the wall. It is time for your trial. And beware, you don''tply with ourmands there will be repercussions." The female guard shouted. "You first tell me about the girls that came here with me. Are they ok? You didn''t do anything to them do you?" Arvin asked back. "LAST WARNING PRISONER! DO AS YOU ARE COMMANDED." The female guard barked and ignored Arvin''sment. "You know what¡­ FUCK YOU! Why don''t youe inside and tell me the repercussions that you have been talking about." Arvin barked back. "That is it. Taze him." the female guard and closed the window. Arvin didn''t understand what she meant by tasing him. And he realized it soon enough what she meant. The walls of his started to light with runes. And before Arvin could react, those runes shot a voltage bolt straight towards Arvin. That voltage was strong enough to make Arvin''s whole body numb. He lost control of his body and fell down. As he fell down the guard from earlier opened the gate. She was amodated by two more guards. She saw Arvin wriggling on the floor from the tase of earlier. Then with a smug on her face, she said¡­ "I am here. Now what will you do now?" she said. Then she came inside and kicked Arvin in his stomach. Then she turned around and left the scene. The two guards which were following her, came inside and then lifted Arvin and started dragging him out of the cell. Although Arvin was not able to control his body he still could see and feel everything that was happening around him. the guards went on ahead and dragged his paralyzed ass for 15 min. And then after 15 mins, they brought him to a room that was simr to his cell. But in this room, there was a table and two chairs in the middle. The guards made Arvin sit on a chair. And then after that, they left the room. As they left Arvin was still not able to control his body. With his head on the table, he was waiting for his paralysis to wear off. But before that could happen, an old woman entered the room. That woman had wrinkles all over her face. She was wearing the same attire as the people from Nekota city. Her saggy and wrinkly bosom was covered with a metallic bra while she was wearing what looked like silky hot pants. Arvin was still lying on the table. But he heard that someone had entered the room. He then felt that person in question took a seat just in front of him. then that person weaved a magic circle. It was after the magic circle was cast, Arvin regained control of his body one more time. As he did he stood up straight and then looked at the person that was sitting in front of him¡­ "Mr. Lopt, it is a pleasure to meet you." The old woman said. "FUCK THE PLEASURE! LISTEN YOU OLD HAG TELL ME ABOUT THE GIRLS THAT YOU GUYS KIDNAPPED WITH ME? WHERE ARE THEY? IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO THEM THEN¡­" Arvin was screaming but before he couldplete his sentence the old woman asked¡­ "Then what?" the old woman said. And she said that she snapped her fingers and the same runes that Arvin earlier started shining on the walls of this room¡­ "I WOULD KILL ALL OF YOU," Arvin said while ring at the old woman. "They are alive. Those girls are also captives of this ce like you. So keep quiet and sit down. We have a lot to talk about." The old woman said. "How do I believe that you are not lying to me?" Arvin asked suspiciously. "It is your choice whether you want to believe in me or not. But you have been warned, try to do anything funny and you will be killed. And the girls will also follow the same faith." The old woman said. Still ring, Arvin took a seat. "What the hell do you want from me?" Arvin asked. "I want you to answer some of my questions." The old woman said. As she said that she brought a transparent crystal out of her storage ring. And then she kept that crystal ball on the table. "What is that?" Arvin asked. "That is an artifact that could tell me whether you are telling the truth or a lie. So would you mind putting your hand on the crystal ball?" The old woman said. Arvin put his hand on the crystal ball as he was instructed. Arvin was frightened by the ball. He had a lot of secrets. And if this old hag started asking him relevant questions then he would be screwed. Now if he thinks breaking out of here didn''t seem like a bad idea at all. "How would you know whether I am lying or telling the truth?" Arvin asked. "If you tell a lie the crystal would change into red color. While if tell the truth the crystal will change its color into green." The old woman said. "Sounds fair¡­" Arvin said. While inwardly he was still nervous. "Now for my first question let''s start with something simple. Is Lopt your real name?" the old woman asked. ''FUCK ME.'' Arvin said inwardly. ¡­ While the interrogation of the Arvin was happening in a room, in the room which is just adjacent to his, Velma was sitting with a few officers of the Stone City. In front of them was a small box that was transmitting sounds from Arvin''s interrogation. Velma knew that something was very fishy about the guy. But she can''t put her finger on it. That is why she was curious about what was so fishy about this guy. So she was listening with great concentration about what this man is going to say. Before the interrogation couldmence she had told all the officers about what Arvin had told her. And among those officers was the woman that kicked Arvin in the stomach¡­ That woman acted that she was not interested in the interrogation and walked out of the room. And after walking for some time, she came to a secluded ce and took amunication jade¡­. "Lord Viserys¡­. I have some incredible news." She said. Chapter 133 - -46 ''Alright stay calm Arvin¡­ You got this. You remember everything about the article that you read about the lie detector machines. When you lie, the rhythm of your heart and brain activity will get slightly heighten. That is the principle used in lie detector machines. So considering this machine also works this day you would have to tell lie as you own it¡­ At least you have to try'' Arvin said to himself¡­ "I think this is the part where you answer all the questions that I ask you Mr. Lopt." The old woman said. "Ah¡­. Yes. My name is Lopt." Arvin said nervously. As the words came out of Arvin''s mouth, he instantly knew that his cover was blown. He said those words too nervously. And there was no way in hell that the machine will rule this out as the truth. This will surelye out as a lie. But as Arvin was convinced that this would be ruled out as a lie, the orb turned green. Which surprised Arvin¡­ "Good. Your name is Lopt. See this will not that difficult. Now for the next question¡­. Did you orchestrated the n to kill and massacre all the people that were in the caravan from which you rescued those girls?" the old woman asked "Hell no," Arvin said. And the orb turned green. "Do you know the identity of the girls that you rescued?" the old woman asked. "They told me their names¡­. Is that what you asking me?" Arvin asked. "No¡­ Before when they told you their names¡­ Did you knew their identity from before you even met them personally?" the olddy asked. "No¡­" Arvin said. "Do you know something about the sacred temple of the fennec foxes?" the olddy asked. "No¡­" Arvin blurted out fast. But the purpose of him doing so was to check why the orb turned green before? Did it mean that the orb does not work on him? Or did it meant that was only a one-time wonder? And to his surprise, the orb turned green. "Good¡­ Now I wanted to ask some questions about the Merchant. Now¡­" the old woman saying something before Arvin interrupted her¡­ "FUCK YOU! Now I am not telling you shit." Arvin said. "Oh¡­ You are loyal to the Merchant." The old woman asked. "Yes, I am," Arvin said. And while he said that he saw that the orb changed its color to green. He wanted to check onest time the power of the orb. After he did that, he removed the hands from the orb. "You know he would not be able to save you from this ce." The old woman said. "I doubt that," Arvin said. "You think very highly of him." the old woman said. "Yes, I do," Arvin said. "And what do you think would happen to the girls that you were with if you fail to cooperate?" the old woman asked. "I think they would be just fine¡­ And I know for sure that Velma should be out there somewhere listening to this conversation right now." Arvin said. "Oh¡­ You sure about that?" the old woman asked. "Yes¡­ When I cured Velma and she woke up, she acted all cocky like she was some bigshot or something. At that time I thought that she was just being suspicious of my intentions. And I got that so I didn''t ask anything else. But then your question about those girls'' identities was a dead giveaway that Velma must be someone important. That is why you were asking those questions. Secondly, since I got here, I was being escorted by fennec foxes. That means that I am somece that is used by Fennec Foxes like the stone city. So it would mean that Velma is sure involved in this. Or otherwise, for a normal human-like Tamaria I wouldn''t be here¡­." Arvin said. "Impressive. You are smarter from what you seem." The old woman said. "I know that¡­ Now get to the point olddy¡­ What do you want?" Arvin asked. "What do I want?" the olddy repeated Arvin''s question. "Yes¡­ The way I see it, from the events that are happening right now, the fennec foxes and the Aurora n are having a dispute over something. So I can say for sure that you wouldn''t hand me over to them. So why the hell are you still holding me captive here? What the hell do you want from me?" the old woman asked. "Quite impressive." The olddy said. "Thanks¡­ Now get to the point." Arvin said. "Bakemono." The olddy said. "Bakemono¡­ Do you mean the Bakemono? The henchman of the Merchant?'''' Arvin asked. "Yes. Him." "*haha*¡­. Wait you are serious?" Arvin said. "Yes, we are." The old woman said. "But why? I mean I would love to see him again¡­ But he is my mentor. What the hell does the fennec n want from him?" Arvin asked. "He has possess something that is the property of the sacred council. And we want it back." The olddy said. "Property of sacred council?... A moment ago you asked me something about a sacred temple¡­. So what did that guy stole? A holy scripture or something?" Arvin asked. "You don''t need to know that. What we want is to contact him and set up a meet-up with us." The olddy said. "Sure¡­ But I cant¡­." Arvin said. "You can''t?" the olddy repeated. Arvin then put his hand on the orb again and then he said¡­ "It is true that I know him¡­ But I have no way of contacting him." Arvin said while putting his hand on the orb. Following Arvin''sment, the orb turned green. When the olddy saw that he was disappointed. She then started thinking about another way from which they could use Arvin to get in touch with Bakemono. Recently sacred council has captured Gracie and herrades. And after intense torture, Gracie admitted that the two pieces of the key are with a man called Bakemono. And he is the henchman of the Merchant. As the sacred council got the news of what Bakemono did, they became rmed. That man was able to kill a Rank-1 Magus. That too in a single blow. That showed that he was very strong. And if that man started searching for all the pieces of the key to the sacred temple then there would be hardly anything that they would be able to do to stop him. So the sacred council decided that it would be for the best if a piece of key that they possess be kept somewhere they could at least have a chance to protect it. So it was decided that it would be safer if the piece of the key is given to the guardian of the fennec foxes on the third and the second floor. The guardian of the whole fennec n Zurama. He is a peak, rank-1 Magus. As that Bakemono already killed a Rank-1 Magus, the sacred council had very little confidence that Zurama would be able to do something to him. But it was better than having it guarded by someone with less power. So in the end Velma daughter of one of the elders of the sacred council was given the responsibility to bring the piece of the key to the stone city. And she had to do it discreetly. But in between, they were attacked. The intelligence was not able to find, which n was responsible for this. After all, there was a high chance that the bandit was orchestrated by some n that got the wind about Velma. Right now all the higher security personnel are trying to find whether who is the mole in their ranks. But still, they are not able to find anything¡­ So the old woman had to decide about whether she wants to invite Bakemono to this ce. After all, this ce had the piece of the key. So inviting him here would mean that they would lose all the hopes of ever getting to see the sacred temple¡­ "I just want to add that killing or torturing me will not ensure that Bakemono woulde here¡­ I am a trainee¡­ I have not officially joined their organization. Yet." Arvin said while putting his hand on the orb. As Arvin gave his statement, the orb changed its color to green. Seeing the color the old woman started to think about what else she should do? He was indeed telling the truth. So what could do next¡­ As the old woman was thinking, Arvin was happy. He was happy that with this he has the chance to get out of here without any mishaps. But his happiness and the olddy''s thought process were interrupted when the gate of their room was opened abruptly. From the gate, a strong old man came¡­ "I AM BUSY HERE!" the olddy screamed. "We have a situation¡­ People from the Bahamut empire are here." The old man said. "What? Why?" the olddy asked. "They are here for him. ording to them, he was involved in Alman''s murder." The old man said¡­ "Huh?" the old woman eximed sounding confused. While on the other hand Arvin¡­ ''HOW THE FUCK DID THEY FOUND OUT?'' Arvin thought. Chapter 134 - -47 Lord Viserys was the head of the Grahmin n. Before the incident of the sacred temple, it was an ally of the Aurora n. Although as an ally of a n whose reputation was very poor, the Grahmin n was known on the third and second floor as a down-to-earth n. All the members of this n were very humble people. They would always uphold justice and they would not hesitate to punish their own n members if theymit some heinous crimes. That is why in public opinion this n was very popr. This n was very strong and its strength could bepared to that of the Aurora n. But despite that, they managed to be a good n. And that was all because of the Lord Viserys. He is a cunning man with big ambitions. He deliberately portrayed an image of his n that showed that their n had no interest in the power struggle. And they were very good people. All of this was done to set up an borate foundation for when they want to rule over the third floor. Lord Viserys thought that a day woulde when the fennec foxes and the Aurora n would destroy each other. And at that, the Grahmin n would raise its rank. But as time passed by, Lord Viserys prediction about the Aurora n and the fennec fox n destroying themselves started to look that it would nevere true. But it was then Grahmin n came across the whole sacred temple legend. It was then Lord Viserys started seeing the hope that maybe this temple would be the only way from which his n could rise up in the hierarchy¡­ ¡­. One the of top secrets agents of the Grahmin n was a high-ranking officer in the stone city. And she contacted Lord Viserys about her finding, he immediately sprung into action. All of the third floors knew that the fennec fox''s stone city was guarded by a Rank-1 Magus. And going against that man was the spelling of insanity. So Lord Viserys a more resourceful approach¡­ From the information of his informant, there was a man in the custody of the fennec fox n that had connections with the Bakemono, aka the killer of Alman, the son of General Ruth. So Lord Viserys used this information about the captive and passed that information to the Viscount of the Bahamut Empire. Lord Viserys knew that with this information the Viscount would make his move. And the reason was because of General Ruth. Everyone wanted to be on the good books and wanted her to own some favors. That is why he would be very happy to help him. And with this, they may be able to get their hand on the two pieces that they have lost. ¡­ Stone city was a huge city surrounded by a tall wall made of scrubbing stones. The whole interior of the city is also made by cutting stone blocks and then gluing them together. That is why the city is called the stone city. It is said that originally this city was made deep inside the rocky mountains like the Nekota city on the second floor. But with time the rocky mountains lost their shape and size and became the houses as like today¡­ Zurama and all the higher-ranking officers were at the gate of the stone city looking down at a small team that was standing down by the gate. There were a total of 6 people that were standing down by the gate. And the leader of that group was standing in front looking straight towards Zurama. Zurama is an old fennec fox with ck hair. But despite having ck hair, Zurama had a wrinkly face and body parts. Which showed that he had very old. Zurama could feel it in the air that the leader of the group was also a rank-1 magus like him. He could not tell whether he is a peak stage expert like him or not. But he was definitely strong. The name of the leader of the group of the Bahamut empire was Henry. He looked quite young. He was a man in his thirties. He was wearing full ted red armor like his men. They all had roaring lion insignia of the Bahamut empire on their shoulders. They were all dispatched here to capture the man held captive in the stone city by the fennec foxes¡­ "Hand over the prisoner that you kept in the city Mr. Zurama," Henry shouted looking at Zurama. "What prisoner? We do not have such a man in our prison. I assure you that Mr. Henry. You have misinformed." Zuarama said. "So that is why you are not opening the gate?" Henry asked. "No¡­ Mr. Henry, I don''t think you are familiar with the city. No human shall ever get past the gate, that was a statement our ancestors passed down to us. And till to DAY, we uphold that tradition." Zurama said. "Do I look like that I care about your stupid tradition? And do I look like that I am a normal human being? I am a soldier of the Bahamut Empire. And I demand you to hand over the prisoner Zurama. Or you would have to face the wrath of the Bahamut empire." Henry said. "Go back. We would not open the door for anyone. That is my final warning. Please fall back. This gate will never open its gate to the likes of you." Zurama barking back. "Looks like I have to show you the wrath of the great Bahamut empire," Henry said as he took out a great sword from his spatial ring. Following his suit, everyone behind Henry also started taking out their weapons. "I am scared of your threats. You don''t mean anything you piece of shit. You and I are both alike. You are also a Rank-1 Magus just like me. And your powers are also restricted because of the floor restrictions. So as mine. We are both alike. If you think that you can easily overpower me then you really have no idea what ise down on you..." Zurama said... "We will see." henry said with a smirk on his face... ¡­.. Soon a fight broke out between two peak Rank-1 Magus in front of the gate of Stone city. That fight was so intense that the shockwaves started making cracks on the walls of the stone city. While the shockwaves could be felt inside the city too¡­ It was at this moment and the ranking officer of the stone city entered the interrogation room to the olddy about themotion outside¡­. "Alright, we will continue this session Mr. Lopt. For now, it seems that I have to back out there." The olddy said. "I didn''t kill Alman," Arvin said to the olddy. "I understand. But it can''t be a coincidence that they knew about you being here. That means someone must have told the Bahamut Empire about your background. And they are just here for you so that either they can lure Bakemono or they want to find out more about The Merchant." the olddy said while keeping the crystal ball back in her storage ring. "Will you hand me over to them?" Arvin asked. "We will see about it¡­" The old woman said... It was then the whole room started shaking crazily. Arvin first thought that maybe this was an earthquake or something. But then he remembered that he was not on earth anymore. So there should be no more earthquakes here in this ce¡­ "WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?" Arvin asked as he felt the whole room shaking. "Oh no." that is what the olddy said and then started running outside. Following her, the old man also started running behind her. While Arvin was left in the shaking room alone. Arvin looked around as there were no windows he was not able to tell what was happening out there. But based on the reaction of the olddy he presumed that maybe something must have happened¡­ Arvin then started thinking about why the Bahamut Empire was looking for him? He had taken every step to cover up his tracks. But the million-dor question was how the hell did they know that he killed Alman. With his skills, he was sure that no one would be able to distinguish that he was behind the mask and yellow eyes. So how the hell did they found out? But then he remembered that the olddy said that someone must have informed them about him. But as far as he could remember he only told his connection with The Merchant to Phyllis, Cassandra, and ire on the first floor. While on the third floor he told Tamaria and Velma about this¡­ Seeing that the Bahamut Empire was here, Arvin assumed that it was either Velma or Tamaria who spilled the beans to them. So Arvin started connecting dots and concluded that these earthquakes must be the by-product of some powerful people shing against each other¡­ So this meant that he had to get out of here as quickly as he can¡­ Chapter 135 - -48 Arvin when understood that he can no longer stay here, he got up on his feet. He leaped towards the door. First, he tried to pull the door to see whether it is open or not. But that door was locked and close from the outside. Arvin then thought that maybe he should just st his way outside. So he weaved a magic circle and was about to fire a fireball at the door. But he stopped in the middle when he saw that the runes of the wall had started to glow. He remembered that when he was tased in his cell, the runes of that wall too started lighting up this exact same way. He didn''t have the time nor the patience to be zapped by lightning again. So canceled the magic circle. And as he did that the runes on the wall also stopped glowing. Arvin''s room could still feel the tremors from the fight outside. He had to hurry before the tremors stop. Because as they would stop and the battle would be over then there was no guarantee that he would be safe here. Arvin then had one more idea. Although it was a very pathetic one, he still had to try it. He then opened his inventory and took out one thing that he didn''t have any use for until now. And that thing was a shuffle¡­. Although the walls of the room that he was in were made of stone. But the floor that he was standing on was made of dirt. The whole floor that he was standing on was made of light yellow color soil. This kind of soil looks like a solid hard stone but when some pressure is applied to it, it turns out to be brittle. So it could be easily be dug. Arvin had seen this type of soil in his geographyb in his college¡­ So Arvin took the shuffle and started digging. With his power, it was fairly easy for him to dug the hole. Arvin started digging a hole under the gate. one of the problems that he faced during this dig was that anyone could spot him from outside that he is digging the tunnel. While the other problem that he faced was that he a very amount of time before someonees in. So he had to hurry As Arvinpleted half of the tunnel, he came out of the tunnel to get some dirt out. He was using one of his cooking utensils to transport the soil out of the hole. As he came out, the door of his room was swung open. And from the door, Velma walked in. And as he did, she fell into the small hole on the ground. When Arvin sensed that some were walking in he quickly put his shovel and the cooking utensil full of dirt in his inventory. Velma was shocked to see that there was a hole in the ground. Then she looked in front of her to see what was happening in the room. And as she looked forward, she saw that a foot was flying towards her¡­ BAAM Arvin kicked Velma straight on her face which sent her flying out of the room¡­. "THIS IS WHAT YOU GET WHEN YOU BETRAY ME YOU BITCH!" Arvin screamed and then he left the room. Arvin only used some amount of his strength in the kick. If he had used his full strength that Velma would have realized what kind of strength he possessed. And he didn''t want that. That is why he used a small amount of his strength¡­ While running Arvin came across many people. Some were guards while some were civilians. Arvin was not the one to show mercy, so whoever tried to stop his path and he would kick them aside. While kicking them he didn''t show the full amount of his strength. He wanted all the fennec foxes to believe that he was not a strong opponent. And soon after taking some stairs and venturing to some parts, Arvin finally came out of the building that he was trapped in. And as he did he started running at full speed¡­ ¡­.. After fooling the guards of the stone city, Arvin covered his face and started running. The whole city was in chaos because of the tremors. People were running from here to there. Guards were trying to evacuate and help the injured people. Many buildings had fallen under the tremors. So there were plenty of people that needed help. So most of the guards were busy helping the normal civilians. So they didn''t focus on who was going where. While running Arvin started thinking about where he should go. He had by now realized that he was in the stone city. Every book about the fennec foxes had the name of the city. And every one of the books described the stone city as a magical city where home is made up of stone. So it was pretty easy to guess where he was. Arvin started thinking that he could no go from the way from which tremors areing. Or he would die surely. And then he thought even if he runs away from the backside of the city that then without a mount he would go crazy. So he had toe up with a n which would satisfy all of his needs. As Arvin was thinking about what to do next, the tremors that the whole city was experiencing suddenly stopped. As the tremors stopped the people that were shouting and screaming a moment ago suddenly stopped. Arvin was surprised to see that everyone stopped. So he also stopped running. He looked at the people in the city. Everyone was looking towards the ce from which the tremors were originating. Arvin was curious about what had happened. But then his doubts were all solved¡­ Kuuuuuuu One of the men making a weird noise. Following that trend, one by one everyone started making that noise. Arvin was surprised as had never seen fennec foxes behave like an animal before. This was his first time. But he was not oblivious of things that were happening here right now. He had read in a book that a fennec fox makes some kind of cute howling noise on two asions. One when where their leader is selected. While others when their leader dies. From what Arvin that in this situation the only probable exnation is that maybe the leader of the city had died. It was very weird but the people of the fennec fox tribe had some sort of connection to their leader. And when he/she dies they know immediately. Before Arvin could digest what had happened a heard a big explosion from some 200-300 m east. After the st, a bell started ringing continuously. As the people listened to the bell jiggling the panic increased by several times. Arvin knew that this bell must have meant something. But he didn''t have the time to care about the explosion or why the bell was ringing. He had to make his way out of there and get as far away from this ce as possible. Now, all that Arvin could think about was that he needs to get out of here as soon as possible. So he started running towards the other end of the city with full speed ahead. From the circumstances, he was more than happy to makes his way through the whole desert with no mount. But as Arvin was running, he felt a mana signature that he had felt before. He stopped running for a second and looked back. He saw that few guards were escorting a small hooded figure somewhere and they all looked in a bit of a hurry. Arvin recognized that small figure. That figure belonged to the little Tamaria that he had saved in the desert. Arvin was surprised to see that she was being escorted by some guards. After all, he first thought that she was not some important character. But as he saw her being escorted it piqued his interest in where they were going. Arvin realized as with their leader gone and no one left to protect them, the city was in chaos. So seeing Tamaria being escorted Arvin instantly knew that these guys were taking her somece where either they could protect her, or they were making their way outside the city with her. Arvin saw that they were going in the opposite direction. Now as he stood there he had to choose whether he should go to his original path or should he follow them. Arvin thought about it and decided to go with his gut feeling. So he started following Tamaria and the guards that were escorting her. While following them from a distance Arvin could see that Tamaria from time to time was looking backward. She was looking in the direction where those explosions took ce. Which made Arvin curious about why was she so concerned? Was it because of Velma or something else? Chapter 136 - -49 Arvin followed and the groups of the soldiers from a distance. Their group unlike the normal guards that were helping citizens, they were going straight for their destination. In between they came across a man that was stuck under the debris. But they straight away ignored him and kept on walking. From this Arvin inferred that maybe these people were on a very important quest or something. Or from what Arvin knew the fennec fox unlike the humans were very passionate for the people of their own race. And if they are ignoring a person of their race in distress that shit is about to get real¡­ As Arvin was following them he noticed that these guys were going towards two mana signatures. Curious about will happen next Arvin quietly followed them. Soon Arvin came across a building. It was a small 2 story building. But the outside door of the building there two male fennec foxes were standing. They were the strong mana signature that Arvin felt from afar. The strange thing about these men was that they were wearing a ck color mask on their faces. While unlike a normal male fennec fox they were wearing a loose white color shirt with baggy pants down below. As Tamaria and the group came close to them, they bowed while seeing Tamaria. Seeing that Arvin confirmed that maybe Tamaria was someone important in the fennec foxmunity¡­ It was then Arvin felt that some powerful mana signature wasing straight towards them. He looked towards Tamaria and her group, it didn''t seem like that they had realized that someone wasing. Arvin didn''t what to do next. So he thought that it would be for the best to enjoy from the sideshow for now¡­. As these mana signatures came close to Tamaria and her group, the masked fennec fox took action. Both of these foxes realized that these people wereing for them. So they first pushed Tamarian and the guards inside the building. And then they themselves rushed into action. Seeing this Arvin wanted to follow them and observe the fight. But it was then he realized that he was not in any transformation right now. That meant that he could easily get spotted by anyone. So instead of observing these people, Arvin should run away from here. But then he looked at the building in which Tamaria had entered just now. He was very curious about what might be the reason for this action¡­. Arvin then observed that the coast was clear and no one was there to stop him, he could just take a peek inside and be on his way out of here. So Arvin started moving towards the building¡­ When Arvin got in he saw that this building was some sort of office. There was receptionist''s table was just a few steps away from the entrance. While the whole building looked like that it was abandoned. Arvin just walked some steps when he started hearing loud noises. He took out his ax and went on to start investigating. It turned out that this ce had what looked like to be a basement. And when he came down he saw a unbelievable scene¡­ The basement of this building was a very small room. But as Arvin came down here he saw that one of the wall shelves of the room had been pushed aside. And behind that shelve was a hole which was lighted by torches of light. The noises that Arvin heard earlier were the infighting between the guards of the Tamaria. Arvin saw that the girl was lying on the floor unconscious. While two of her guards were fighting with each other¡­ Arvin didn''t give a fuck about the reason that these girls were fighting. Because his whole focus was on the underground passage. Arvin immediately took out his knives and in a step reduced the distance between him and the girls¡­ Those female guards were very weak. So it didn''t take a lot of effort to kill them. Arvin was about to go in the passageway when he looked at Tamaria. She was a mute and innocent girl. Considering what Arvin saw earlier, he could guess that she must be someone important in the fennec foxs''munity. So Arvin was tempted to take her with him. But then he remembered what happened thest time they were together¡­ But then he still couldn''t let this important trump card against the fennec foxes die out here. So he grabbed her quickly and then he entered the passage. The whole passage was ignited with torches. But still, Arvin was very careful while walking through the passageway. He was very careful as he didn''t know whether this passage was booby-trapped or not. And he didn''t want to take any chances. Carefully and slowly, after walking for a whole hour, Arvin finally came across the exit. Seeing the light at the end of the passageway Arvin got excited and ran full speed ahead. He didn''t found any booby traps whileing here which made him believe that this passage was not booby-trapped. And thankfully as Arvin crossed the passageway he didn''t activate any sort of traps¡­ When Arvin came out of the passageway, he saw that he was in some sort of rocky mountainous area. He saw that to his right there were a bunch of stairs carved in rock that was going upwards towards a mountain. While looking at the surroundings Arvin also saw that there were pieces of rock everywhere. And some of those rocks had a painting on them. He then checked the exit of the passageway from where he came from. There he found some burn marks. This leads him to believe that someone had recently used this passageway and as they came here they sted their way out of here¡­ Still, Arvin didn''t care about that. He was more interested in getting out of here for now. So Arvin started going up the stairs. He figured that if this passageway was used as a means to escape in an unprecedented incident then these stairs will lead him to a safe house. And there was a veryrge chance that he could find a mount and supplies there. So he started going up the stairs¡­ Those stairs lead Arvin to the top of the mountain. And when Arvin reached the top he saw that indeed there was a shelter there. But it was made nothing like Arvin expected it to be¡­ Arvin saw that on the top of the mountain there was a white color building. That building although was small, it was in the shape of the white house of America. That white building was the size was a suburban house and was very small. And just beside the building, there was a small hut with open walls. And in that hut, there were several camel-type mounts were standing ready to go. Arvin then felt that someone was in the building and wasing outside. And that person was not very strong. But still, Arvin didn''t want to take any chances. Arvin then dropped Tamaria on the ground like a discarded bag and started weaving a magic circle. And when that person came out moved his magic circle towards Tamaria¡­ "Where the hell has you, guy, been???" the person shouted as she came outside. And as the woman came outside Arvin recognized her instantly. That woman was Velma¡­. "HOW THE FUCK DID YOU GET HERE BEFORE ME?" Arvin shouted as he saw Velma. While on the other end Velma became very shocked when she saw Lopt with her little sister. There she was her cute little sister lying on the ground unconscious. And Arvin had a magic circle pointed towards her. "You¡­ Leave her alone!" Velma said. "Yeah¡­ about that¡­ That is not going to happen. Until I don''t get out of this whole situation she is gonna stay with me." Arvin said. "I swear if something happened to her I will hunt you down and tear your whole body into pieces," Velma said while ring at Arvin¡­ "Do whatever you want to do¡­ Now if you would excuse me I need to get the fuck out of here." Arvin said while picking up the Tamaria and was about to move forwards towards the mount when Velma urged him¡­ "Wait if you let her go, I will give you this piece of the key of the sacred temple," Velma said as she fished out a piece of jade from her spatial ring. Arvin looked at the jade piece and instantly recognized it¡­ It was the same jade piece that he has in his inventory. He was tempted by the offer but also found it suspicious¡­ "I don''t want the jade piece. You can keep it for yourselves. I just wanna get the fuck out of here." Arvin said. But what Arvin didn''t realize was that Tamaria on his shoulder has woken up. Till this time she was just faking that she was unconscious.. And at the moment when Arvin said that he didn''t need that jade piece, Tamaria abruptly sprung into action and stabbed Arvin a nail that she picked up when during the infighting of the guards¡­. Chapter 137 - -50 Tamari was the daughter of Zurama just like Velma. The mother of Tamari was a human that Zurama saved in the desert. After saving her, Zurama fell in love with her. And thus he married her. After marriage Zurama''s wife first gave birth to Velma which was a fennec fox just like Zurama. And after that, she gave birth to Tamaria which was human-like her mother. Tamaria was a little girl so she didn''t know, but no one liked her in the whole city. And the sole reason for not liking her was because she was human. And no human was allowed in the city. Even Tamaria and Velma''s mother was not allowed to stay in the city. For the sake of her wife, Zurama made a temple for her in rocky mountains near the stone city. There he would visit her every day. That is why like her mother Tamaria was also kicked out of the stone city. Velma took Tamaria and went to live away in the city under the fennec foxes where humans and foxes lived in coexistence. There they lived in seclusion. It was not until one day their father came to visit them. He handed two pieces of the jade to both the girls. He told them that he was giving these pieces to them as he believed that they would be safer in their hands. But then their father contacted them again and stated that he wanted them to visit the stone with their pieces¡­ ¡­. Earlier the guards that were supposed to protect Tamaria, started arguing whether they should kill her or not. Some of them were ming her for Zurama''s death. And they want to protect her anymore. But some guards were against it. And as soon as he got in the building they started fighting with each other. And in the end, Tamaria found a small nail to protect herself. But then she got knocked out by one of the guards¡­. Tamaria when heard the confrontation of Lopt and Velma, she understood what will happen if she didn''t act right now. She would be held hostage by this man. Although he had saved them before, after her big sister betrayed him, she didn''t know whether she could trust him anymore or not. So seeing the chance that Arvin was distracted, Tamaria took the nail and stabbed it on Arvin''s right butt cheek. Arvin was so focused on Velma as she was the only threat there at the moment. But as she stabbed him, Arvin lost his focus for a moment and loosened his grip around Tamaria. Seeing this opportunity, Tamaria abruptly pushed her body with all of her strength. And she was able to get out of Arvin''s grip. She fell to the ground, and she then quickly got up and started running towards her big sister. Velma saw what was happened. It was a miracle that Tamaria managed to get away from Arvin''s grip. She then noticed that although Arvin was really surprised by her blow, she saw that he didn''t even try to catch Tamaria. He just let her go¡­ "FUCK! You little shit¡­ Fine, you can have her. But I am taking one of the mounts." Arvin said while taking out the nail from his butt cheek. "Thank you," Velma said as she saw his gesture¡­ "FUCK YOU!" Arvin said and then he started running towards the mounts. Velma then came towards Tamaria and inspected her body for any visible injuries. But she could not find anything. She sighed in relief as she saw that she was injured badly. There were bruises here and there. But nothing major that couldn''t be solved by healing salve¡­ "Tamaria where is mother? She was supposed toe here with you, right?" Velma asked As Tamaria heard Velma''s question she started shedding tears. Which was enough for Velma to understand what would have happened. And why her mother is not here with them. Velma then hugged Tamaria to console her. Although she was also shocked by this news, but this was not the time to sulk around. She had a lot on her te right now. The heart-touching moment between Velma and Tamaria was ruined when¡­ "*cough cough* I think for the sake of safety we should get out of here together," Arvin said. As Velma heard him, she looked at him and asked¡­ "We should stick together for safety reasons? Or the real reason for sticking together is that you don''t have any supplies nor have any idea how to get out of here?" Velma asked. "¡­" "Which one is it?" Velma asked again. "FUCK YOU," Arvin said. Then Velma got up with Tamaria on her back and went towards the stables and brought two mounts with her for the journey¡­ ¡­ Velma handed over the ring that they confiscated when Lopt was unconscious. Lopt looked happy that finally, he got the stuff back. Velma had started to understand what kind of man was Lopt was. He was a strong man. But he was not that smart. He had a little bit heroic side to him. And she had started liking him. After all, he had saved her sister''s life twice. And still, it didn''t look like that he was nning some sort of devious n. Velma, her sister, and Lopt traveled through the mountains together. The mountain range that they were in was very difficult to navigate. As well as this region was so vast that it took them a whole day to get of the region. And as the night they all had to camp in the periphery of the region¡­ Tamaria was not able to speak. So she was quite the whole journey. But Arvin and Velma also didn''t talk to each other the whole journey. After all, things were still a little bit awkward between them. But the silence between them finally broke when Velma initiated the conversation¡­ "What will you do now Lopt?" Velma asked while sipping some soup that they had made for dinner. "Don''t know¡­ Thanks to you guys now the target sign behind my back has erged. So seriously I don''t have any idea what I should do." Arvin said. "I am sorry¡­ You see I had a piece of the key with me. So I had to be thorough about¡­." Velma was saying when Arvin cut her in between¡­ "I don''t care what were your circumstances. The reality is that you betrayed my trust." Arvin said. "I am sorry¡­" Velma said¡­ "Whatever¡­ By the way, what is the deal with the sacred temple? And why the hell did you guys wanted to contact Bakemono for it?" Arvin asked. "It is a sacred site for our fennec foxes. It is a temple that is a part of our rich heritage. And the most important of all, it is from the era of the apocalypse." Velma said. "So that makes it important?" Arvin asked. "Anything that had survived from the days of apocalypse is very important. Like the broken ax that you got on the 1st floor." Velma said. "How do you know that?" Arvin asked. "Well, we have our ways¡­ The Aurora suspected that the ax in the question belonged to the era of apocalypse. That is why they gave out a bounty for you." Velma said. "Really? That was it? You mean to say that if I have handed over that ax to them then I wouldn''t be in this situation?" Arvin asked "Probabaly yes¡­" Velma said. "FUCK¡­ Maybe I should have paid some attention to why these wanted me." Arvin said. "So where is that ax?" Velma asked. "I already sold it," Arvin said. "To whom?" Velma asked. "Bakemono¡­" Arvin said. "Do you think that he knew about that ax?" Velma asked. "Of course he would have known it from the start. He was a very cunning motherfucker." Arvin said. "Damn¡­ he got you good," Velma said. "Well, it was worth it. He taught me many things. He is the reason that I am sitting here. So even if he scammed me somehow it doesn''t matter." Arvin said. "You really respect him don''t you?" Velma asked "Yes, I do¡­" Arvin said. "Hmm¡­" Velma mumbled. "So what is the deal with this temple? What does it have? Treasure of some kind? Weapons or something else?" Arvin asked. "I don''t know. But the historians suspect that the temple has a huge amount of cultivation resources¡­ As well as it also has the golden pit." Velma said. "The golden pit?" Arvin asked. "ording to the legends the sacred temple was used to choose the leader of all the alpha. Every once in a while all the leaders of all the fennec foxes establishment would meet each other andpete with each other. And then the strongest fox among them would get the chance to dive in the golden pit." Velma said. "So what did this pit do?" Arvin asked. "They say that after diving in the pit a person would be able to get all the strength that he wanted and more," Velma said mysteriously¡­ Chapter 138 - -51 "So you are telling me that everyone out there is working so hard for a god damn bath in a pool?" Arvin asked Velma. "It is not a literary pool¡­ It grants you power." Velma said. "That is a bit of a stretch¡­ I meane on, you seriously believe that a bath in some sort of pool will grant you the power to conquer the world¡­ Sounds like bullshit to me." Arvin said. "Well, it is too good to be true," Velma said. "Or there might be another side of the story that we may not be seeing," Arvin said. "Like what?" Velma asked. "It is called the golden pit, right? So what the story about the sacred temple is telling the truth literally? It is called a golden pit. So diving into the pit would mean going inside it. What if the pit is some sort of water well or something in the temple wherein ancient time foxes used to grow cultivation resources?" Arvin asked. "Why would someone grow cultivation resources in a well?" Velma asked. "I don''t know¡­ But if that pit really contains a mountain of cultivation resources then the story would perfectly with the pit. Once you dive inside it, you will get enough resources that would help you boost your strength to another level." Arvin said. "That makes sense," Velma said. "Anyway, where is this sacred temple located?" Arvin asked. "I don''t know. It is said that when all the pieces of the key will be united once again the temple will reveal itself to the world." Velma said. "So the all the piecesbine will create some sort of signboard for the direction of the temple?" Arvin asked. "That is what the legends say," Velma said. "Damn these legends¡­ Cant, they just say what they want to say without twisting things ording to their convenience?" Arvin said. "Well, this is how it is¡­" Velma said. Then Arvin and Velma concluded their talk and started having their dinner. While having dinner Arvin was thinking about what more information he could gather from the girls. As well as he was internally having a dilemma whether he should kill these girls or not? He didn''t know whether they were of any help to him. Plus they had a piece of the key. If he acquires that then he only needed one more piece and then he would be able to get to El Dorado¡­ After having dinner, Arvin sat by the campfire thinking about what to do next. As he was thinking about what to do, Velma initiated a conversation¡­ "So what are you thinking?" Velma asked. "Huh?" Arvin asked as his train of thought broke as Velma initiated the conversation. "I asked what are you thinking?" Velma said. "I am thinking about various things. Like what should I do after this? If I head towards the ascending tower then there is a good chance that I will get caught. So should I go back to the 1st or 2nd floor for the time being or should I stay hidden here on this floor¡­" Arvin told her his chain of thoughts. "Well, that is a hell ofplicated¡­." Velma said. "That it is¡­" Arvin said. "Lopt¡­ I am sorry. Half of the things that are wrong in your life have happened because of me¡­" Velma said. "Don''t mention it¡­" Arvin said. "So do you forgive me?" Velma asked. "No¡­ In fact, the only reason that you are breathing right now is because of the little girl beside you. I don''t her to grow up without any loved ones. That is why you are still alive. Or otherwise, you would have died by now¡­" Arvin said. "¡­" "What? That is the truth¡­" Arvin said. "Still I am very sorry," Velma said. "Don''t mention it¡­. And rather than thinking about me, think about what you would do next." Arvin said. "Me?" Velma asked. "Yes. You and your sister possess one of the pieces. So you will be the target of countless people. How do you n to escape them?" Arvin asked. "I have some contacts. They would be happy to hide me and my sister." Velma said. "So you n to hide?" Arvin asked. "Yes¡­ For now." Velma said. "So is that temple really worth it?" Arvin asked. "What do you mean?" Velma asked. "I mean I can clearly see that you n to hide the key at the cost of endangering your sister''s life. So I wanted to ask whether that time is really worth it?" Arvin asked. "For the fennec foxes that temple is worth our lives," Velma said. "But what about your sister?" Arvin asked. "What are you trying to say?" Velma said. "Velma I care about Tamaria. And this is just my theory but the way that you offered me that piece on the top of that mountain in exchange for her life. That showed that you didn''t care about that temple. But now rather than trading that piece to the Aurora n for your lives you are here talking about hiding. Won''t that endanger you sister? And I just can''t wrap my head around why do you want to go to the temple?" Arvin said. As Arvin asked that question Velma became silent and started deeply thinking about what he just said. Velma was protecting the jade pieces as this was the task that her father gave him. But now his father is no more in this world. Now she was alone in this world with her little sister as her only family. Speaking with Lopt made her realized that he may be right. Her father is dead now. As for her fennec fox heritage was concerned she did not care about it. Her fennec fox heritage made her mom an outcast. And yearster her sister also became an outcast because of her heritage. So she literally has no reason to protect those jade pieces. Arvin was right. She could just hand over the jade pieces to the Aurora n or the Grahmin and seek asylum. She could at least take care of her sister this way¡­ Velma then was torn between what she should do next. As she was thinking, an idea came to her. She started thinking about which person out there is stronger than the Aurora and Grahmin n? Who is the person that can protect her but as well give her a good deal for the jade pieces? And the answer to that question was sitting right beside her right now. "Lopt¡­ Do you think that Bakemono will be interested in the jade pieces?" Velma asked. "Yeah¡­ You could say so. I mean the olddy that interrogated me said that he had some property of fennec foxes. From what I could see, she may be talking about the jade pieces¡­ if he is in fact collecting them then there is a high chance that he might be interested¡­ Why are you asking?" Arvin asked. "Maybe I could sell these a jade piece to him," Velma said. "What do you want in return?" Arvin asked. "Protection I guess," Velma said. "I don''t think that would work," Arvin said straightforwardly. "Why?" Velma said. "Well based on what I know, Bakemono can cut a deal with anyone that grants him something of value. And those jade pieces are in fact valuable. But from what you have told me these jade pieces are a very risky deal. So I doubt that he would give you any protection. At best he would give you something of equal value for them." Arvin said. "These are the pieces that uncover a rune of the age of apocalypse. How the hell is this a risky deal?" Velma asked. "You told me all about the legend regarding the sacred temple. But you yourself are not sure that what we would find inside the temple. There is no guarantee whether you would find something useful in the temple. So there is no way in hell Bakemono will give you what you want." Arvin said. "It seems highly unlikely. Maybe if I talk to him I can convince him¡­" Velma said. "Alright think of it like this¡­ If Bakemono agrees to give you the protection that means that The Merchant has granted you asylum. And what that means is that no power of this floor or any other floor will be able to touch you. Can you with absolute certainty say that he would find something in the sacred temple that could top that?" Arvin asked. "....no¡­.." Velma said. "There you have it," Arvin said. "Then what I am suppose to do? I don''t want to give the jade piece to the Aurora n nor to the Grahmin n." Velma said. "So why not get a marypensation for that piece?" Arvin said. "Maybe this is would be for the best," Velma said. "That is good. This way you would not be left empty-handed¡­" Arvin said. "But there is still a problem. You cant contact Bakemono. So how am I suppose to sell this?" Velma asked. "I may have a way," Arvin said. Chapter 139 - -53 "I may have a way," Arvin said. "What do you mean?" Velma asked. Previously Lopt has confessed that he didn''t have any way to contact Bakemono. So now what did he mean when he say that he might have a way. "I mean that you and Bakemono could make a deal," Arvin said. "How?" Velma asked. "Well, it is true that I don''t have any way to contact him. That means that I cannot contact him. But that doesn''t mean that he could not contact me." Arvin said. "He can contact you?" Velma asked. "Yes. Every 10 days Bakemono contacts me. So I can talk to him about your situation and maybe then you could make a deal with him." Arvin said. "That is great!" Velma said. Arvin initially thought that he would have to convince her that there is some sort of magic on his body that lets Bakemono contact him. But seeing that she not only questioned him but believed him, showed that she is a naive girl after all. So now all that was left was to make sure that he made a deal with a lower price. Arvin was thinking about killing the girl. But then he remembered his days as an orphan. And no matter how cruel he was, he didn''t want anyone to live alone like he use to do back on earth. That is why he figured that maybe this time he should obtain a piece without killing the original owner. Maybe this would affect his karma and would be beneficial for him in the future. "I know. So before I contact him, I want to tell you something. And it is important so listen carefully." Arvin said. "What?" Velma said. "See¡­ Bakemono has been good to me till now. But that doesn''t change the fact that he is a henchman working for The Merchant. So he would try to get the best deal of the merchandise. If you try to cheat him or something then you will die." Arvin said. "I know that already," Velma said. "Then you should also understand this that if I tell him about your jade piece then he may try to snatch it from you but hook or by crook. So make sure that you set a price for the jade piece such that Bakemono would agree on it in an instant." Arvin said. "So you mean to say that I should tell him the price that is not that great but also not that bad?" Velma asked. "Correct. You should understand this man is out for jade pieces. And if I tell him that you possess one then surely he would try to make a deal with you because the request came from me. But you have to be lenient while dealing with him." Arvin said. "So you trying to say if the deal backfires Bakemono could snatch the stone forcibly?" Velma asked. "Yes. That is why I thought that I should warn you first." Arvin said. "How sure are you that you can convince him to make deal with me first? I mean can you say for sure that as soon as you told him about me then he would not just kill me and take the pieces?" Velma asked. "I am 100% sure that he will not harm you," Arvin said. "Hmm¡­ Now if I think about it¡­ Alright, let''s do it." Velma said. "You wanna go through with it?" Arvin asked. "Yes. I don''t want to go to the Aurora or the Grahmin n to possess the stone. So Bakemono is the only person left that I don''t have enmity against. So I would rather have him have the pieces." Velma said. "Alright then¡­ I would ask him to visit you. So how much are you willing to take for you to give your piece away?" Arvin asked. "Pieces," Velma said. "Excuse me?" Arvin asked. "I have two pieces of the key with me," Velma said. As soon as Arvin heard that she had two pieces with her right now his mind short-circuited. And why wouldn''t it be? After all, he had two pieces with him right now. While the remaining two pieces are with Velma. Didn''t that actually mean that now he had all the pieces in his possession now? That meant that the El Dorado was finally in his grasp now. Arvin started getting excited, but then he calmed himself down. Velma had one piece, that he was sure of. After all, she herself showed it to him on the top of the hill. But that didn''t mean that she possessed the second piece as well. Maybe she had hidden that piece somewhere safe. So he could not just kill her and grab the pieces right now. First, he needed to know the location of both the pieces. Then only he would take any action¡­ "You have two pieces with you? Man, that is surprising." Arvin said surprised. "Yeah. From our intel, Bakemono posses two pieces already. So that means that if he gets his hands on these pieces then that would essentially mean that he would all the pieces tobine to form the key to the sacred temple." Velma said. "Alright then, so what you have in your mind? How would you like to trade with Bakemono?" Arvin asked, "What do you mean?" Velma asked. "I mean do you want to trade here or is there somece where you want the trade to happen? Or you have something special nned?" Arvin asked. "Well, I have both the pieces with me right now. So it didn''t matter where you make the trade." Velma said. "Alright then. Now we just have to wait for him to contact me. Then we could do the trade." Arvin said. Now as he had confirmed that both the pieces are here with them, Arvin nned to kill them off tonight. He has no reason to wait for the other morning. So Arvin looked around and saw that Tamaria was sleeping inside the tent. And Velma was with him at the moment. He thought that these girls are weak right now. And this was the time to strike. "I would now retire in my tent. So excuse me." Arvin said. And then when he got up and was going from the back of Velma. And he got towards her back, he took the ax from his inventory and shoved it on the face of Velma from the back. As the ax pierced through her skull it split opened and her brain material started falling out of it. As Arvin gave the painless death to Velma he heard a noise from the tents¡­ He saw that Tamaria came out of her tents and was looking at him directly. Her sister''s body was lying right beside the fire with her skull split open. And she had a mixture of terrified and shocked looks on her face. "FUCK!" Arvin cursed. He wanted to give Tamaria a painless death with magic. He didn''t want her to see any of this. But she saw this anyway. Arvin had to kill her anyway so it didn''t matter much¡­ Arvin then started walking towards Tamaria. As she saw that Arvin wasing for her she started running away from the camp. She was very weak at that moment. So she was not that fast. Arvin could easily catch up to her. While running Tamaria took a ring that she was wearing as a ne. That ne was in fact a spatial artifact. As she took out the ring she wore it in her hands. As she wore it, she took out what looked like to be a green color stone. But if someone would have looked closely then they could have seen that this stone was a very delicate carving of runes all over the stone. Tamaria started pumping some mana into the stone. This made the stone glow. And of course, this was left unnoticed by Arvin. He summoned his ax and send it flying towards the Tamaria. That ax easily reached Tamaria''s ring hand and dismembered it. With one hand cut off, Tamaria screamed with pain but no voice came out of her mouth. Arvin walked slowly towards her and saw her struggling and screaming with pain. He felt bad that he have to kill this kid to reach his goals. But then he close his heart to her suffering and started walking towards her to finish the job. As Arvin got closed to Tamaria, he was going to swing his ax down on her, but then at that exact moment, Tamaria took a handful of sand and threw it at the face of Arvin¡­ AAhhh Arvin became blinded by that sand. This was only for a moment, but it was all that she needed. Tamaria then got up and went towards the stone. She pumped some mana into the stone which started making it glow. Arvin felt that mana, although still blind, he threw his ax towards the source of the mana. But till the time the ax reached Tamaria, it was toote. Tamaria sessfully pumped some mana into the stone which in return teleported her to another location. Chapter 140 - -54 By the time Arvin cleaned his eyes and was able to see Tamaria was not around anymore. While he was blind he was able to sense that when Tamaria pumped some amount of mana in the stone, her mana signature vanished from the spot. Arvin didn''t know what had happened? He tried sensing the surrounding area to see whether Tamaria had turned invisible or she had really vanished from her spot. And to his surprise, he was not able to sense nor able to find anything that could suggest that Tamaria had turned invisible. So that could only mean that Tamaria had vanished from her spot. Arvin had never heard or read about such a stone before. So he assumed that maybe this stone didn''t belong to this floor and was likely the item from the upper floors. Previously he thought that maybe Tamaria and Velma were kids of some bigshot of the Fennec Foxes n. But now it seemed to him that maybe they were something more than that. Because possessing a stone like that isn''t something that a mere high official of the n could do. Arvin started thinking back. Xander told him that the fennec foxes were actually protected by the Rank-1 Magus. And he was one of the most influential figures on the 3rd floor. If Arvin starts to connect the dots and based on the strength of the guardian of the fennec fox n he made an assumption that these girls were in fact rted to that guardian. After all, a Rank-1 Magus is the only person that could possess something like that. And there will be no surprise that he would give his family members something like that. Arvin was d that the guardian of the n didn''t survive in the battle between him and the representative from the Bahamut Empire. Because he would have been in big trouble if someone with that level of strength would have found out that he had killed their daughters. Arvin then thought that he should leave Tamaria alone. After all, she was weak and pose no threat to him now. It would be a waste of time to go after her. Plus she doesn''t know any of his secrets other than the fact that he killed her sister in cold blood. So it would be a wastage of time. And the most important thing of all, Tamaria while teleporting failed to pick her severed hand. That means that Arvin still had the piece of the key that he wanted. So Arvin went towards her severed hand and took out the spatial ring from it. Now that he had all the pieces he could nowbine all the pieces ¡­ Arvin was so focused on the jade pieces that he failed to realize one crucial piece of information. And that was the fact that Tamaria had seen his ax. The ax was very simr to the ax used to sever the hands of Alman on the battle on the 1st floor¡­ ¡­ "MOTHER FUCKERS!!" Arvin screamed in frustration. It had been two days since he killed Velma. In these two days, he made a camp in a cave on the outskirts of the mountain range. He buried the body of Velma near the cave. He looted everything valuable that he could find on her body. And of course, he took her spatial ring. Now with the spatial ring of Velma and her sisterbined Arvin should have all the pieces that he would need to make the key to the sacred temple. But he was very wrong. When Arvin came across any spatial ring in the past then all he needed was to pump some mana into the rings to open them. But these rings of both of these sisters didn''t work that way. Arvin observed these rings with his mana eyes and mana sense. He did as a precaution as these rings came from a Rank-1 Magus family. He had already seen that the family members of this family could possess some powerful artifacts. So he was just being careful. And he was d that he did that. When Arvin observed the rings he found that these rings were covered with the intricate circuit of runes. This was an rm for Arvin as he had never seen a ring covered with a runic circuit before. So he tried tracing back the circuit to see what it does. But the problem was the circuit was so intricate and so well drawn that became very difficult for Arvin to actually follow the circuit. Arvin spend days understanding what was even going on the circuit. Some of the runes were just dummy runes that never joined in the circuit. Hell, they didn''t even y a role in the whole circuit. But they were there. And after 15 days of constant tempering with Velma''s ring, Arvin was finally able to recognize and circuit on her ring. It turns out that it had forced his way into the ring that he might have blown the ring into pieces, thus destroying everything in it. So Arvin disabled the circuit and cracked the ring. And thus he was able to get another one of the jade pieces with a lot of supplies and money¡­ When Arvin moved towards Tamaria''s ring, then he sensed that the circuit on the ring waspletely different from the circuit that covered Velma''s ring. And this was circuit too was asplicated as the first one. Seeing this Arvin regretting his decision that he killed Velma so abruptly. He should have first made her take out the jade piece and then he should have killed her. At least this would have been far easier than this. As Arvin was already in the zone it only took him 10 days to crack open Tamaria''s ring. And he had to say that he was a little bit disappointed. He thought that maybe he would be able to find some cool artifacts from these rings. But he didn''t find anything interesting at all. It seemed to him that these girls only had one life-saving artifact and that was given to Tamaria. And she used it. As Arvin cracked opened thest ring he got thest piece of the jade piece required to build the key. Arvin then took all the pieces that he had gathered and put them all together. And as he did, he saw all the pieces started shaking uncontrobly. The jade pieces started melting and startedbining. And soon they all gotbined and form what looked to be a medallion made of jade. And thenst but not least the red jewel flew into the liquid medallion¡­ ¡­ Doja city is the city situated at the eastern end of the third floor. It is one of the cities in which fennec foxes and humans live in harmony with each other. It is said this city previously belonged to fennec foxes but the ruler of the city that it would be a good idea to open it to humans. And thus that day it became the city where both the races could live in harmony. This city didn''t get involved in the conflict between all the major ns and stayed neutral. They didn''t want to get involved in dirty politics and war for supremacy. But little did the people of this city knew that they may have decided not to participate in the war. But they would be drawn into the war soon¡­ It was a normal day for the people of Doja city. But their peaceful day was interrupted by strong winds. It was very weird when the winds suddenly started blowing. The sky became darker and the whole city started feeling some tremors. This whole ordealsted for just 3 minutes and no harm was done to the normal public. But something felt very weird about the atmosphere. And the authorities soon find the reason behind the abnormalities¡­ In the middle of the city, a portal had formed. The diametre of the portal was around 10 feet. No one what or why this portal was formed. But there was one thing for sure, this portal was the cause behind all those abnormalities¡­ ¡­. Deep inside the portal that opened inside the Doja city was a forest. That forest was full of greenery. Deep inside the forest was a cave. There in that three fennec foxes were sitting. These fennec foxes were very old. They all had wrinkles all over their body. And all of them have white hair. As the portal opened in the city, these old men felt it. They all got up simultaneously and started walking out of the cave. They didn''t say a word while walking. While going out they all didn''t forget to pick up their weapons that were lying beside the thrones they were sitting on. Without saying a word to each other these old men as soon as came out of the cave, all vanished from their spot. It was not that they all teleported somewhere.. They were just so fast that it looked like they teleported. Chapter 141 - -55 When all the jade pieces and jewels werebining, Arvin was thinking that maybe the result would a green color jade key or something. But his expectations were betrayed when the end result came as a medallion. That green medallion was approximately 4 inches long in diameter. And in the extreme left of the medallion was a red color dot. It was nothing like Arvin had ever imagined before. He did not what the hell this was? Was this supposed to be a key? Arvin then picked the medallion up and inspected it. Velma said that when all the pieces of the key woulde together they will guide him towards the temple. But as he inspected the medallion he didn''t understand what he was supposed to do next? Arvin then looked at the red color dot at the medallion. He was assuming that this dot must have something to do with guiding a pathway towards the temple. But he didn''t understand how this worked? Velma said that no one knew the location of the temple. And when all the pieces arebined then the key would be able to tell where the temple is¡­ It was then Arvin understood what this was. To test his theory, he got up with a medallion in his hands. While standing at his ce he changed the way he was facing 3 times. And then he noticed that every time he turned the red dot on the medallion changed its direction with him. That proved his theory that this medallion is apass. And probably the direction in thispass is the direction to the temple. Arvin then didn''t waste any time. He packed his bags and started moving immediately. He didn''t want to waste time anymore. He had already had wasted about a month decoding the safe locks in the rings. Now he didn''t want to waste any more time. So he went to his mount and started traveling¡­ ¡­. Arvin understood that the temple would be full of danger. And there are plenty of people out there who would recognize his face and would want to kill him. So he decided that it would be in his best interest to start preparing for this trip. So as soon as Arvin started traveling he started using the mana stone reserve that he had thanks to the golden-haired man that he killed to increase his strength. He wanted to reach a mark of Rank-3 or Rank-4 Acolyte before he reaches the temple. Arvin had taken into consideration that the Rank-1 Magus that killed Velma could still be here on this floor. And he might be on the lookout for him. There was no way in hell he could run away from him without his skills. So the only thing that he could increase his strength. It would not guarantee his victory but it would be a lot of helpful¡­ While traveling through the desert, Arvin realized one thing about Yggdrasil. And that was the fact that the higher the numerical value of the floor, the more the area it had. He had seen the first floor. And it was not that big. Butpared to the first floor, the second floor was a giant. He had literally spent days flying from one end to the other end. And thenes the third floor. Arvin had been traveling for 1 and a half months. And yet still, he hadn''te across any city or establishment. And of course, there is no sign of the sacred temple. And this was brutal. Arvin was making strides in strength. He was getting stronger and fast. But what he didn''t know was the fact, where he was heading towards? With no establishment and not so ever, Arvin had no idea where he was going? So that freaked him out a little bit. But as he saw the way that he was progressing strength-wise, he was feeling excited. After he had already broken through the power base of level-3 Acolyte. He was at the peak of his level and was a very little distance away from bing a level-4 Acolyte. Loki had told him that because of him, he would not have any difficulty in increasing his strength. But he warned him that if a dayes when he increases his strength at such an rming rate he would need to make sure that he gets ustomed to such strength. He told him that during a fight it is very important to make sure you handle your mana effectively. But if you don''t get ustomed to your strength then it would be very hard the control your mana efficiently. So instead of breaking through to the level-4 Acolyte stage, Arvin started training to get ustomed to his strength¡­ It was while training, Arvin suddenly remembered something very crucial. And that was the fact that H told him that it would take around a month to re-establish the connection with him. But it had been over 2 months. And yet still he can''t use his abilities. Which started making Arvin question about where the hell was H and what is the problem that they are facing? Arvin feared that the worst-case scenario would be that they would not be able to re-establish the connection no matter what they do. And that was making Arvin anxious. But he understood that he needs to keep going on. He can''t sit around and ramble about his unluckiness. He had to move on. But it was then one day when he was deep in meditation he heard¡­. [Host found.] [Re-establishing the connection between Host and GM] [Connection establish.] [All the functionalities are back online.] As Arvin opened his eyes and read the messages, he couldn''t help but smile. Finally, his powers were back. With Arvin opened his status window to check his stats¡­ ..... STATUS Name- Arvin Level-349 Exp-60/100 Championof- Loki, God of Mischief Inventory-(Tap to expand) Quests-(Tap to expand) Skills- 1>Shape-Shifter={MAX}{LOCKED} 2>Mana Meditation={Level-6} 3>Stealth={Level-3} 4>Fluid Body={MAX} 5>Illusion Casting={Level-2} 6>Fire Affinity={Level-3} 7>Soul Reading={Level-0} 8>*** ***={MAX}{LOCKED} ... It was only for a moment Arvin was happy. He was happy that finally, he regained his powers. Finally, he won''t need to travel on foot. He could fly. And with the help of his transformation skill, Arvin truly believed that he would be able to reach his destination in no time. But all of his ns and all of his happiness vanished into thin air when he saw his status window¡­ What the hell was this? His transformation skill was still locked. Why? Arvin was confused and angry at the same time. He tried calling out to H and Loki about this. But he did not receive any reply from their end. Arvin started to get angry. He was literally in the middle of the desert. While his most useful power is sealed. And he is about to enter an area where such power could be of great help¡­ After calming down, Arvin looked at his status window one more time. His transformation skill was locked. He thought that maybe Loki must have to pull a prank on him. But it didn''t seem to be the case here¡­ Illusion Casting was a great skill but it can''t be useful in the sacred temple. Arvin was thinking that the temple would be full of booby traps. And there his fly form would be of great help. But instead, he was stuck with illusion casting. Arvin sighed and then he resume his training, By nightfall, Arvinpleted his training stop at a ce. He made camp and started cooking dinner. As Arvin was cooking his dinner, he sensed that someone was approaching his camp. Arvin sensed that this person was not trying to hide. He was walking towards the camp without care of the world. He then sensed that there were some people following the person in front. The strength of these people was nothingpared to Arvin. That is why he was not concerned about his safety. But he was curious about the group that wasing towards him. Arvin knew that his face was widely known. So he cast an illusion on his face and changed his face into a cruel-looking old man. And then he ignored the group and continued cooking¡­ As the group approached his camp, the leader of the group coughed two times to tell Arvin that he was there. To this Arvin acted shock by acting startled when he heard the coughing. Arvin then got up from his ce and picked up a great sword that he had from the 1st floor and pointed it towards the group. The leader of the group smiled when he saw what Arvin did and said¡­ "Easy there, old man¡­ Wee in peace." The leader said Chapter 142 - -56 The leader of the group was a middle-aged man. He was wearing what looked like to be a red color soldier''s armor. He then raised his hands in the air and said¡­ "Ie in peace. I don''t have any sort of weapon with me. I am just cause I saw a fire." That man said. While the people following that man started surrounding the camp. Arvin could sense every single thing happening around the camp. But he didn''t bat an eye to what these idiots were doing. After all none of them coulde even close to his power right now. "Don''te near. I don''t want anypany. Please go away." Arvin said while shaking his greatsword. He acted like he was scared. And seeing that Arvin was shaking in fear, made that man smiled. "Don''t worry old man. I won''t harm you. Don''t you see my armor? I am from Doja city. I am a soldier. I won''t harm you." The man said. "Doja city?" Arvin said. Hearing the name Doja city Arvin started remembering the third-floor map. He remembered that it was the city that is situated in the far eastern part of the floor. "Yes, from Doja city. This is my patrol route. When I saw that you were camping here I came to check it out. So don''t worry old man I am not here to hurt you." The man said as he started walking towards Arvin. Hearing that he was a soldier from the Doja city, Arvin out down his sword. And he then pretended that he believed that man. And as the man came close to Arvin he started said "Wee to Doja city." And then the man punched Arvin in his stomach. That attack didn''t even faze Arvin but he pretended that he was feeling pain from that attack. Then that whistled and then all of the men that were surrounding the camp started swarming in his camp. Then these started going through all the stuff that was lying out in the camp. These men found a book about a magic circle that Arvin was reading before. They found a bottle that Arvin uses to keep water. Some utensils and other items were also found. But other than that nothing. There was only one thing that was valuable with Arvin right then, and that was the book that he was reading. And other than that these didn''t find anything note-worthy. Arvin was also not wearing any space ring at that time, so all of these men were confused about where Arvin was hiding his valuable things? "Boss, there is nothing noteworthy here except this book. He is just a poor bum who can''t even afford a space ring." One of the men said to the middle-aged man who was standing right beside Arvin. "You blind dumbass check again. There must be something valuable here." The man said. "There is nothing here boss." One of the men answered. "Argh¡­. Kill this bitch and take his mount and book. At least we would not be left to go home empty-handed today¡­ Man those mother fuckers of Bahamut Empire have ruined our very lucrative business." The man mumbled. As Arvin was close to him he heard it clearly. That man said Bahamut Empire. "Did you just said Bahamut Empire?" Arvin asked. As Arvin said his sentence a chill ran down the spines of every man that was present there at the moment. Their leader who was standing right there with Arvin had it worst. He was near Arvin at the moment, he felt the full force of killing intent from Arvin. As he felt the killing intent his legs became jelly and he kneeled down in front of Arvin. While Arvin got up and looked at all the men that were now looking at him. Arvin then smiled evilly and then he leaped towards the nearest men. ¡­ It was almost too easy to subdue these men. With his new strength, these men were like children in front of Arvin. He just needed to pressure them to some extent and they already started crying. Arvin then leaned over to the leader of the group and told him to tell him about the Bahamut Empire. And what the hell were they doing in such a remote ce? The leader of these bandit group then started telling Arvin about the situation of the Doja city¡­ About a month ago a portal opened in the middle of the city. The interesting thing about this portal was that as someone would go inside the temple, they would nevere out. It was like the portal was swallowing people inside it. There was another strange thing about this portal that if seven people go inside the portal then the portal would vanish. But then it would reappear in one or two days. Then the cycle of the 7 people could be repeated again. All the major ns heard about this portal and send their men to check it out. And it was onlyter, a ck fennec fox of the Doja city went in. And he came out. And he told that this portal was in fact the portal to the sacred temple of the fennec fox n. That spend tremors through the whole floor. Every major n got this news. Soon a fight broke out between all the major ns inside the city. And the city was about to be ruined once and for all. But then people from Bahamut Empire came. With their power, they suppressed all the ns. They brought peace. Now every major n sends one of their representative inside the portal every time it opens. Bahamut n is also doing so. But none of them areing back. Yet still, none of them are backing out¡­ As Arvin got what he needed he killed these bandits.. He didn''t forget to keep the armor from their leader. He didn''t know how but maybe in the future this armor would be helpful to him¡­ Chapter 143 - -57 The armor that Arvin got from the bandit leader was not a very good condition. It seems to Arvin that this man must have either stolen this armor or have snatched it from a dead body. But despite that Arvin was grateful to that bandit group. They may have destroyed his camp, but in return, they gave him useful information. As Arvin now knows that all the major ns and Bahamut Empire are there in the city he had to be extra careful. If someone finds even a glimpse of his face he would be in big trouble. Now as he doesn''t have his shape-shifting abilities he had to be extra careful while in the city. Arvin was also thinking about the portal that this guy talked about. He was very curious about why the hell everyone that went inside didn''te back? And only the ck fennec fox was the only person that came out alive? Arvin was sure that these major ns and the empire would do anything to make that ck fox speak. If he had done something different from all the other people then they all would have gotten some idea about it. And yet still they are unable to return back alive? What the hell happened in there? Arvin was thinking that the sacred temple must be this dusty old rune that he would need to explore. But this is turning out to be something more bizarre. Arvin then packed up all of his stuff and started the followingpass again. He needed to change his camping site as he left the bodies of those men there. And if idiots like them found his campsite then so can any other guy out there. And if his guess is right then the Doja city would not be that far from his current location. So he changed his location and started going straight for the city. Traveling at night without any kind of light was a tad bit difficult. But Arvin was right. Only after walking for about 20 min or so he started seeing a city in a distance. As Arvin approached the city he saw that the sandy dunes were not getting converted into barren solid ground. While the medallion was also pointing straight towards the city. Arvin then with a great smile on his face started going towards the city. But as Arvin got close to the city, it was then he felt something. It felt like he had walked through an invisible dome or something. Arvin then open his mana eyes and checked. And for sure, the whole city was surrounded by what looked like an invisible dome made with a tightwork of runes. Seeing that dome Arvin started feeling anxious as he didn''t know what was the purpose of the dome. But if his guess was right this dome here saw through his power level. And soon enough Arvin felt that some mana fluctuation and sensed that some people were speeding towards him¡­. ¡­ Arvin was not able to guess the strength of the people that wereing towards him. He could just sense that they were zooming towards him at an incredible speed. Arvin didn''t know what to do at the moment. If that dome really have guessed his real power then he would be in big trouble. So in this situation, Arvin took the first idea that implemented it¡­ He got off from his mount and made as much distance as he can from his mount. While he was running away he saw that three people were running towards the mount from the city. So these people are already here. So Arvin lied down on his back and took out his ax. Then he used illusion casting to make an illusion of rock around him. This was a very very bad idea. Because as Arvin wasing here he saw that the ground around the city was ne and devoid of any rocks. So it was a shitty idea. But Arvin didn''t know what else to do at the moment. He could not have just run away cause the dome would feel it. Plus he could fight or kill these men because that would mean that he would be hunted. And as the Bahamut Empire is here he could take risk of getting hunted. Because who knows that Rank-1 Magus could be staying in the city. Arvin closed his eyes and tightened his grip on the ax¡­ Arvin was inside his illusion so he could not see outside. But he was able to sense it. The three people that came here were checking out his mount. Two of them had the strength is around Peak Level-2 Acolyte. While the other one was a level-3 Acolyte. The level-3 Acolyte didn''t seem that strong to Arvin. But they were still strong whenbined together. And sure enough, after checking Arvin''s mount, these three split up and started running around to find Arvin. When these people were running around many times they passed by him. But it didn''t seem to him that anyone realized that this was actually a rock. Many times these people came too close to touching the rock but they didn''t so. And Arvin was thankful for that. But Arvin has always been the least favorite ofdy luck. Soon one of the men came towards the rock. And he was going to touch it. Arvin tried to sense the location of this guy''s teammates. And sure enough, they were a little bit far from their current location. Arvin thought that this would be the correct timing¡­ As the man came close to the rock, Arvin straight away threw his ax towards that man. And as the illusion was not transparent the man was not able to see iting. So the hit from the ax went in without any hups and cleaved the man''s skull in two As Arvin had now killed this man he had to think of a way so that he could get out of the situation really quickly. Chapter 144 - -58 After swiftly killing that man, Arvin took the man''s corpse inside the rock''s illusion. There first he memorized the face of the man, which was a tad bit difficult as just a moment ago he split his skull open. But somehow he managed to learn his face. Then he took out the man''s clothes and wore them. He stored the man''s corpse. As Arvin disguised himself, he sensed that one of the men wasing towards him. Arvin then came out of the rock, but as he did that he realized his blunder. Till now Arvin had disguised himself countless times. And quite frankly he had been sessfully able to disguise himself. But as he came out of the illusion he realized his blunder. He didn''t know what this man sounds like. He had never heard the man talk. And secondly, he can''t even change his voice now as he doesn''t have the shape-shifter skill now. When he realized this thing, he understood that he was fucked. The man that wasing towards Arvin was a level-2 Acolyte. So in a sense, if anything goes sideways then he should be fine. He could not sense level-3 Acolyte that meant that he was not around here. Probably he must be looking for Arvin elsewhere. So to get out of this sticky situation he acted on the first idea that came to his mind¡­ ¡­ As the man approached the rock he saw that his friend andrade were standing behind the rock and were looking up. That was a weird scene¡­ "Hey Jabba, did you find anything?" the man asked. "¡­" To which Arvin swung his head from left to right. "Well, Adrian went to report that there was only an abandoned mount that came in the dome and no one else. Anyway, I did the full sweep of my area. Are you done with your area?" the man asked. "¡­" To this Arvin just nodded his head. "Hey by any chance do you think that I have a chance with Ivy?" the man asked. "¡­" To this Arvin looked annoyingly at the man and raised his arms to signal him to shoo away. "What?" the man asked as he saw Arvin''s signal. "¡­." Arvin just gesturing him to shoo away. "Is something wrong? Should I call for backup?" the man asked. "I AM TRYING PEE, YOU IDIOT! GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE." Arvin screamed in a high-pitched voice. He deliberately wanted to sound angry and high-pitched so that he could cover for his voice. "Woah¡­ geez¡­ I didn''t know that you were a shy pee-er." The man said. "GET OUT OF HERE ASSHOLE I AM TRYING TO CONCENTRATE!" Arvin screamed once again. "Yeah yeah¡­ I am going ahead." The man said and then he returned back to the city Arvin sighed with relief as he saw that the man was retreating. As Arvin saw that the man had retreatedpletely he undid his illusion and started walking towards the city. Confronting these people was a very close call. He was somehow able to get out of the situation. But from now onwards he had to be careful. Like most of the cities, Doja city was also surrounded by walls. But as Arvin got near the walls he could see that the city was not in good condition. He could see that there were cracks over all the city walls. And there was no one at the top of the wall. No guards were guarding the gate of the city. As Arvin entered the city he could sense that this city was a battlefield. He could sense that there were some people in the city. But most of them were at houses and buildings. While the city roads were empty. When Arvin fought with the golden-haired man in the spring paradise he learned one new thing. And that was the fact that he could sense weaker people than him or just as strong as him. But really stronger people then are very hard to sense. And they could be only sensed when they deliberately leak their energy. So Arvin could sense all these people but most of them seemed like normal civilians. What happens to these civilians was none of his concern. So he just kept walking inside while ignoring them. ording to the information that the bandits gave him, the portal appears in the middle of the city. So Arvin straight away started walking deeper in the city to see the portal for himself. As Arvin went down the road he sensed that the civilians in these were getting increasingly low. While the houses and other buildings of this area were damaged a lot. It looked like more of a ghost town than a city. And as he got closer towards the center, he sensed that the people of the stronger power level are also increasing in the vicinity. As Arvin came towards the center of the city he saw a giant blue color portal. Surrounding the portal was arge number of people. These were all in small groups and were holdings the gs of their group. Arvin recognized some of the gs. One of them was of course the Aurora n. And there Arvin''s old friend Xander standing in the crowd. There was also a group of Grahmin n and Fennec fox n in the groups. While Arvin was looking at these groups he noticed that the one group was different from the rest of the ns. This group has a roaring lion in the sunset as their insignia. And they were the strongest of the bunch. People from that group were wearing the same clothes as Arvin was. The strangest part was that these people were very strong. This group could easily take out one or two ns with these people. And seeing their strength Arvin assumed that they must the Bahamut Empire. Although based on their gear and formation it seemed to Arvin that they could take out more ns if they worked hard enough. But due to suppression from the world rules that would show a little of what they are actually capable of.... Chapter 145 - -59 Seeing these groups Arvin understood that he could not possibly win if all the group started to attack him. He had to be extra careful in his nning. He had to make sure that none of them suspects that he is an imposter. Arvin had presumed that maybe that people from the Bahamut Empire would have the life brands on them like the brat in the dry wind city. But it doesn''t seem to be the case here. Arvin quietly joined the group of the Bahamut Empire and waited for something to happen¡­ ¡­ Arvin waited with the group for 5 min or so when a guy walked towards the portal. That guy was wearing the armor like the rest of the Bahamut empire''s soldiers. But his armor was a little bit different. His armor was of better quality and style. He seemed to be a high-ranking officer of the Bahamut empire. If someone from stone city were here, then they would have recognized the man immediately. He was Henry, the man that killed Zurama the Rank-1 Magus of the stone city¡­ "The time hase again. Now every group will choose one person as their representative that would go inside the portal to explore. Like always pleasee one by one and announce their representative." Henry said. Then one by one the leader of the ns starteding forwards and telling the names of their champion. These people were mostly peak level-1 Acolyte or beginner level-2 Acolyte. None of them were strong enough. Arvin saw that the representative from the Aurora n was a person that he knew too well. And that person was Xander. As far as Arvin had understood, Xander was a very important asset of the Aurora n. He was strong, decisive, and cunning. So he felt strange that he was elected as their representative. Were the Aurora n so desperate for a win that they were ready to sacrifice one of their powerful pawns? Or is the ulterior motive behind this action? When the turn of Grahmin n came their leader walked up and said¡­ "We would give our seat to Bahamut Empire." Arvin checked that there were 5 major ns and Bahamut Empire here. While the small ns were backing up major ns. If only 7 people at once can go inside, then that would mean that there must be someone who would get to send 2 people as their representative. And then someone would be Bahamut Empire, after all, who else it could be. Then if Grahmin n gave them their seat that would mean that they would now have 3 representatives. Arvin smiled as he saw this. Bahamut Empire was bullying the small ns. But it was then he realized something else. The people of his group were all sweating beads. They all looked very nervous. It was then Arvin realized one crucial detail. These guys were sweating because the three people that would be going inside the portal would be chosen from their group. And now Arvin was also part of their group. HE FUCKED UP AGAIN! Arvin wanted to go inside. But the portal was very creepy as no one that walked inside the portal ever came back alive. Except for that ck fennec fox. Arvin first wanted to investigate that ck fennec fox. He wanted to found out more about the world inside that portal. What kinds of things could be expected? Does he need to get something before he gets inside? But he had somehow found himself in a situation where now he cannot make any preparation beforehand. Arvin started praying tody luck so that she could shine some luck on him¡­ When the chance of the Bahamut Empire came, some people brought a very big bowl with some chits of paper inside it. Seeing that bowl Arvin felt like he was in the movie called the Hunger Games. In that movie, there is a big jar from which the name of a person is chosen so that they could be sent to a certain death. Henry looked at the bowl and looked at his soldiers. He then pushed the bowl away and said¡­ "Today I will choose by seeing the faces," Henry said. And then henry started choosing people. As Arvin was standing at thest he thought that maybe he would not get chosen. Who knows maybe the luck was on his side today. But his expectation was betrayed when Henry flew in the air. And the person that he picked was him¡­ Arvin''s heart stopped when he saw that henry''s finger pointing at him. And soon he chose two more people and then all came out of the group. And all the representatives gathered in front of the portal. The leader of each n gave a special speech about how their sacrifice will never be forgotten. But inwardly they all knew that they were sending them to their certain death. So this was not a sacrifice. But a murder. Then one by one each of the representatives started going inside. And all Arvin was all that left. Arvin looked at Henry and said¡­ "Sir can I say something before I go?" Arvin asked. "Sure¡­" Henry said while yawning¡­ "Thank you sir for this wonder full opportunity. I am very thankful for it. I will make sure that I make Bahamut Empire proud. People of the Aurora n and Grahmin n¡­ FUCK YOU GUYS. This floor was a very peaceful ce. But it was not until you guys showed up, this floor became the shit hole that it is today. And people Aurora n stop with racism. Being a racist is not something you should be proud of. And I know for sure that all of you guys will perish one day if you didn''t stop the racism. Same goes for fennec foxes. Say no to racism." Arvin said. "GO IN ALREADY! I don''t have all day you know. Are you wanna die here right now?" Henry said while being annoyed. "Kill me? Does Bahamut Empire don''t have that kind of power" Arvin said with a smile. Then he took out his golden mask from his inventory and put it on his mouth. And before jumping inside he changed his eyes to look like the eyes of a golden eye snake.. Then he winked at Henry and jumped inside the portal. Chapter 146 - -60 The expedition of the portal was not bearing any fruits. And Henry was losing soldiers left to right. That is why he was getting very angry. But he was ordered by the Viscount that he had to stay there and secure the golden pit that is in the temple. From what he had heard this was a very important matter for the Viscount. That is why he was under so much pressure. But he didn''t know what else to do? The ck fennec fox that came back told gave the information that the portal was supposed to be the gate to El Dorado. But as that fox came out he was very badly wounded. The people of the Doja city tried to cure him but they were not able to save him. Henry make sure that he squeezed every bit of information that he could get from the caretakers of that fox. After all, he was bound to give more information about the portal. But hisbor was fruitless. When that fox came out he was badly wounded. He had lost a lot of blood. So after he told the people that this was the portal to El Dorado he fainted. And during his treatment, he stayed unconscious. So he didn''t have any time to give any more information about the portal and the sacred temple. So Henry didn''t have information about the portal. Henry was literally sending his soldiers out towards their death without even telling them the cause of their death. Soldiers have started noticing this and a form of distrust was forming between them. Henry didn''t like that a little bit. But what he could do? He had to do as he was ordered¡­ ¡­ It was the usual day for Henry. The portal opened once again. Soon the night came when they have to choose their representative to go inside the portal. That night Henry thought that he would do something different that day. Until then he was choosing his representatives with the help of chits that he had prepared. But that day he thought that he should do something else. So he decided that he would choose the person based on their faces. So Henry went up in the air and choose his three champions. Every one of his soldiers got rxed he didn''t choose them but the trio of his representatives all had their faces down. They were all depressed. Then the time finally came when all the representatives had to head in. But a member of his battalion who was also his representative stayed behind and wanted to say some words. Henry allowed it as he felt sympathetic for that man. He started by saying that he would Bahamut Empire proud. And then he started talking about Racism all of a sudden. Henry started getting annoyed at this. He shouted at him to get inside already¡­ But it was then that man brought a mask from his spatial ring. Henry felt that he had seen that mask before. And he was right. Soon that man''s pupil changed to that of a golden-eyed snake. Seeing those eyes and masks together Henry recognized that man in an instant. He was none other than Bakemono, the very famous criminal of the Bahamut Empire. Before Henry could take any action that man jumped inside the portal. As the portal closed, every present there at the moment had their jaws opened as they couldn''t believe what they just saw¡­ Till he killed Zurama and took control over the stone city, the whole Bahamut Empire thought that this man was called the merchant. But then officials of the stone city confirmed that this man was not the merchant but his henchman and goes by the name of Bakemono. From there he also got information that he possess two of the jade stones needed to open the gateway for the temple. While the other two pieces were with the daughters of Zurama who goes by the name of Velma and Tamaria. Henry was searching for these sisters as they were an easier target. But as he heard that portal opened here, he understood that Bakemono got to the girls before he could. He knew that Bakemono woulde to the city to explore the portal. That is why he made his men set up a transparent dome around the city. He thought whenever this man woulde he would be informed immediately as the portal was made in such a way that it notifies him whenever a level-4 Acolyte or abovees through the portal. And ording to the information he got, Bakemono was suspected to be a Rank-1 Magus like him. So he would confront him whenever he woulde here. But he never got the notification that he came here. What does suppose to mean? Did it mean that Bakemono was weaker than a level-4 Acolyte? Or does it mean that he knows how to bypass the domepletely? Henry had heard of some cases where people who are well versed in runes, find mistakes in the runic circuit. And then they can either bypass the circuit altogether or they could easily disrupt the circuit. But these kinds of men are very famous magus. And they are extremely powerful. But the main point is that if Bakemono could do that, then that would mean that he is well versed in the runes. Then that would make him a quite powerful opponent. This got Henry thinking about how strong will The Merchant himself be? ¡­ While everyone was shocked by Bakemono''s sudden appearance, the leader of the fennec fox was deep in contemtion. It was true that the knowledge about the portal and the sacred temple was lost in time. But there was one thing that was not lost. There was one piece of information that was not lost through time. That is why he gave orders to his most trusted subordinate. And thus that night the trusted subordinate left the Doja city for the stone city. Chapter 147 - -61 Using his shape-shiftings skills Arvin had done free fall many times. And it was quite fun. He would go in the sky and then dive down in the human form. And then when he was about to reach the ground, he would transform back to his bird form. It was quite fun¡­ The portal was like that but with a twist. At first, when Arvin jumped into the portal he felt like that he was free falling. But then he felt a sudden jerk on his back. It was like while free falling someone caught him with a rope while free falling and then started pulling him up. Arvin was sure that sudden jerk would have broken his back. After that jerk, he felt that instead of free-falling he was flying with a high velocity like a rocketunched towards the sky. After some time he came to an abrupt stop. After the stop, Arvin felt like a ck hole suddenly manifested itself beside him. And then he got sucked in the ck hole. His whole body started twisting and turning while traveling in the ck hole. But then the twisting and turning came to an abrupt stop and Arvin touched something solid. It took Arvin a few seconds to regain some sense of where he was or otherwise his mind was groggy. Arvin stood up and saw that he was standing on some sort of tform. That tform was located up a hill. And in front of him, he could see a great scene of a forest. The forest looked dense and he could various types of birds chirping from the hill. Hearing the voices of birds and other animals, Arvin assumed that this forest must be full of wild creatures. The interesting part about this forest was that it was not that big. The whole area of forest was enclosed by the formations of hills. Arvin looked back and saw that just outside the hill formation there was weird fog. Arvin could not see anything beyond that fog. So he presumed that the foggy area must be out of the limits. So the whole area was enclosed by a weird fog. Inside the fog, there is a circr hill formation. And inside the hill formation, there is a forest filled with wildlife. While just between the hill formation Arvin could see that there is a huge pyramid¡­ Seeing that huge pyramid in the forest, Arvin abruptly remembered Aria, the woman who took his virginity. When Arvin went to her house he saw this exact same scene carved on the door of her house. He remembered it clearly¡­ After checking out the area, Arvin started doing some nning before he head out. That was a forest down there. And without his shape-shifting skills, he can''t fly. That means that he had to go through the forest to get to the pyramid. He doesn''t know much about the forest or its wildlife so that is a part which would be a surprise for him. If he had to run then it would probably take about 20-30 mins to get there. Now that is a tricky part. If Arvin assumes that all the representatives reach that ce at the same time then he would be at a disadvantage. Because first of all, he had the key to the temple. He can''t use the key in front of them. He would need to get those people out of his way. So he had to kill them one by one. But then there is another theory that Arvin wanted to use but he can''t do it because of all these people¡­ ording to the story that Velma told him, only the fiercest ck fennec fox would enter the temple topete. And then only the strongest ck fennec fox would get the chance to enter the sacred temple. And then those bandits told him that a ck fennec fox went inside the portal and only he made it out somehow. So that got Arvin thinking, maybe the answer is ck fennec fox? Maybe the only reason that guy made it out alive was that he is ck¡­ So Arvin was thinking that whenever he would go in there he would cast an illusion on himself and make himself a ck fox. But now that seems impossible. But if only ck foxes are the only ones left alive then maybe it would mean that all these people would be killed in some time. So the best strategy for him could be to outwait everyone. He just has to stay here and wait. So Arvin sat down on his tform and decided to wait. But as Arvin sitting he noticed something. Originally Arvin was wearing the armor of the Bahamut Empire''s soldier. He was wearing metal cuffs in his hands. But while sitting he noticed that there was a ck line on his left arm. Arvin removed the cuff and it was then he noticed it¡­ In his left arm, there was a tattoo of a sword. Originating from his elbow to just below his hand. Before he saw the tip of the sword peaking through his metal cuffs. As far as Arvin could remember he didn''t have this type of tattoo before. This was something new. As Arvin was looking at the tattoo closely he noticed another weird thing. The tattoo was vanishing slowly from the hilt. Arvin understood that this tattoo was rted to this ce and its vanishing could only mean one simple thing. This tattoo was a timer. And he didn''t want to know what would happen if that tattoopletely vanishes. So all Arvin could do now was to throw all of the ns and plots to the back of his mind and started running towards the temple. But as Arvin got up and wanted to start running he noticed another thing.. He could not use magic. He was literally surrounded by magic yet the mana in his body was not responding to him¡­ Chapter 148 - -62 It was very weird. To run faster Arvin would start pumping mana through his whole body. This way his body started working on overdrive and he would be able to run very fast. But now he is not able to control mana in his body. He doesn''t know why but he can''t do anything with the mana that he had right now. Arvin tried expelling all the mana from his body and then recover everything back. But also didn''t work as the mana in his body was non-responsive. Arvin then tried weaving a magic circle, but somehow that is also not possible. Arvin wanted to sit down and strategize about how he should y in the situation. But the time was very crucial at the moment. So Arvin decided that it would be for the best that he think about this while running¡­ Arvin then started moving down the hill by the stairs that were just beside his tform. While going down Arvin started thinking about could be consequences of this. As Arvin was not able to use mana, he was just a normal human for now. But that didn''t mean that he was weak as a normal human. His body still was capable of doing some incredible feats. But he could showcase all of his powers now¡­ Arvin then started what could be the reason behind all of this? The people that designed this ce wanted to test their endurance then they could have made it a simple race. But instead, they also gave him a timer. That meant that they have to cover the race in the given amount of time. And that was very concerning¡­ From what Arvin was able to observe, the sword in his hand was indeed getting smaller. But from his calction, it would take around 7-8 hours before the sword vanishes. And that time was enough for any healthy and strong level-1 Acolyte to cover the distance of 50Km. That meant the weakest person that enters this ce also have a shot toplete the race. But then what is the point? If the purpose of this race was elimination then a weak person could alsoplete it. Unless¡­ Unless this race is not simple. Till now Arvin was considering that this forest was a simple forest with nothing to worry about. But what if the forest is filled with dangerous animals or booby traps? Then that could face a problem. If that is true then the purpose of the timer could be justified. And now with mana gone people have to resort to fighting with their weapons and such. And then¡­ ''FUCK!'' Arvin screamed inwardly and then stopped. He didn''t realize one very crucial thing. And that the now people could not use their spatial rings. After all to use them one has to send some amount of the mana in the ring. Then only they would be able to bring something out or toss something in the ring. As Arvin was not able to use mana then he presumed that others will not also be able to do so. That meant they are stuck in this ce without any weapon¡­ But then Arvin remembered another crucial thing. He remembered that before bing an acolyte he was able to use his inventory just fine. So could that also work here? To check Arvin summoned a beef jerky from his inventory. And to his surprise, he was able to bring the jerky out. That meant he could bring other things too. That meant that he could use his ax. Arvin then also checked his kunai knives. They also seemed to work fine. Arvin was very happy to find out that his inventory was workings just fine. Then just to check another theory he checked whether he can cast an illusion. And surprisingly that worked out too. That meant that he could use all of the skills that are provided by the system. So it could be said that Arvin had some edge over the other contestants. ¡­ As Arvin reached the bottom of the stairs he stared at the green forest in front of him. He understood that he had toplete the race. But he also has toplete it in one piece. So he had to be very careful. With that thought, Arvin started venturing inside the forest. Arvin was not running at full speed. Instead, he thought that it would be better if he jogged. Jogging would help him locate and booby traps or something that could be anywhere in the forest. It was then the forest became really quiet. And Arvin was able to notice it as he just jogging and not letting his guard down. Then Arvin started hearing the howls of some creatures. And if is not mistaken then howls belonged to wolves. And it sounded like they are extremely close to Arvin''s current location¡­ He knew that he could outsmart a dog or a wolf in the jungle. It would be suicide to deal with them in the open field. Arvin started running at full speed. While he was running, he ran in circles around one tree, and then he moved on to another. Then he ran in a circle around the other tree and then he moved on. This was the ssic military strategy to counter canine dogs. This tactic could easily counter the powerful noses of the canine dog. He read this information in some book. Arvin did this with a bunch of trees in random directions. Then he found the densest tree he could find and climb at the top of it. Then he waited¡­ Soon he started hearing some growls at some distance¡­ Arvin kept quietly lied down on the branch of the tree. He took out his ax, just in case. Then he calmly waited. Without moving a muscle, he waited. Then he saw¡­ A creature with no eyes. It was like a ck dog. It had no eyes or ears. It had a small tail like a Doberman. There were just these open slits like that of a fish''s gills present instead of his eyes. He was looking at the ground, Arvin figured that he was smelling him. But he was baffled as he had never seen an animal like this in his life.. He was never a fan of animal documentaries, but still¡­ It was like that he was on an alien and that is an alien in front of him. Chapter 149 - -63 Arvin didn''t want to confront any animals right now. Because it would be a waste of time as well as he didn''t want to get injured. Previously whenever he would get injured the mana that he had would start healing him. But now as he is not able to control the mana he didn''t know that if he got injured then the mana in his body would heal him or not¡­ Arvin figured that once this animal goes away, he woulde down from the tree. So, he starting watching the animal closely. That animal seemed confused. But the next thing you know, the animal started growling slowly... GRR¡­.GRR¡­GRR Arvin''s heart stopped as he thought that the animal had smelled him. He had to make a run for it. But before that, he should confirm that he had smelled him or not. So Arvin watched him closely. Still slowly growling, the animal lifted his tail a little bit and shot out a ck poop out of his butt. Seeing this Arvin sighed with relief. But then the dog started growling again, but this time Arvin didn''t mind him. But this time instead of poop out of the butt, the animal produced a wave from his body. That wave passed through Arvin. As it passed through, the animal started looking at the branch at which Arvin was hiding. Then the animal opened its mouth showing its teeth, his growl became more ferocious than before. Before Arvin could know it, the animal opened its mouth and a small blue sphere started forming in its mouth. And before he knows it, the animal shot that sphere towards Arvin. As soon as Arvin saw the blue sphere-forming in the mouth of the animal in front of him, a chill ran down his spine. He felt like someone was pointing a bazooka at him. Arvin abruptly jumps down from the tree. Then that animal shot the blue sphere at the branch. Arvin was very lucky as he was saved by the sphere by a hair''s breadth. When the spherended on the branch of the tree, it exploded the brach in pieces¡­ Arvin then started running in a random direction away from the dog. He kept running and running. He couldn''t any growl or anything behind him but he didn''t have the heart to stop. A dog-like creature had just shot a blue sphere at him which had the power of a small explosive. That fact alone was able to send fear in his mind. He kept running, but while running he heard something to his right side. Arvin looked and saw that same dog-like creature was running a few meters away at his right side. Then he heard something to his left side. He saw another one of that dog-like creature running a few meters away on his left side. Seeing two of the creature just with him, he came to a realization. Those creatures had the speed from which they could easily catch up to him. But they are running by his side. Means they are toying with him. That was the most logical exnation he could think of from the actions of those dogs like creatures. As Arvin was thinking this, the dog from the left suddenly lunged at him. The dog didn''t w him or tried to bite him. It just pushed Arvin so that he would lose his bnce and fall down. And that did happen. Arvin wasn''t able to react in time when the dog lunged at him and as a result, he falls down. As Arvin fell down, the dogs following him formed a formation around Arvin so that he could not run away. From the formation, Arvin was able to discern that there were 4 dogs that were hunting him. Helpless, Arvin took out his ax. This was it. Arvin understood that he had to fight now and there is no other option left. On the other hand, those dogs started circling him. There Arvin stood in his fighting stance while the dogs circled him. Arvin''s heart was beating faster and faster. ''This couldn''t get any worse¡­'' as Arvin was thinking a slight noise of branch craking. He ignored that and concentrated on the dogs. But soon he was distracted by slime stuff that fell on his torso from above. Sensing something wrong, Arvin looked up, and there he saw¡­ Two ck panther-like animals were sitting on the branches of the tree that was located above Arvin and those dogs. The slimy substance was the saliva that came from one of those panther''s drools¡­ Seeing them Arvin''s mind was blown away. Those dogs circling Arvin didn''t have any idea about the situation they were in. But seeing that Arvin was distracted, one of them lunged at him. But Arvin''s reaction speed was faster, he sidestepped and cut jabbed the ax in that animal''s skull. Without his magic, the ax was not sharp enough to pierce through that animal''s skull. So Arvin was only able to wound that dog. Till then the panthers also got interested in the little farce. One of them directly jumped on the wounded dog and started fighting it. Seeing the ck panthers lunging on the woundedrade, other doges also joined the fight. Blue exploding spheres were fired from here and there. Those panthers were only two in number, but the advantage of the body as they were stronger. faster, and bigger than those dogs. In between the fight of those dogs and panthers, Arvin slowly started crawling out of there. That was the best option at the moment. Arvin started running as fast he could. Arvin ran and ran for 15 mins straight. Soon he started hearing the sound of a stream. He then started running towards the stream. The flow of the stream was not very fast. Arvin came here to drink some water. So he knelt down to drink some water.. But as he did his instincts told him that something far worse than those animals is watching him. Chapter 150 - -64 It happened very suddenly. Arvin was drinking water from the stream. It was then his instincts started to kick in. He started feeling that something terrifying was watching him. He could feel some amount of heavy blood lust in the air. And before he knew the thing attacked. Thanks to his instincts, Arvin was able to evade the attack by jumping sideways. And as he jumped sideways, a very loud banging noise came from the ce where previously he was previously drinking water from¡­ BAAM From the sound of that bang as well as from the vibration of the earth, Arvin understood he was not dealing with an overgrown panther over here. It was something big. And as Arvin understood that he didn''t think about anything else, he just started running from there. As Arvin started running he didn''t forget to look back to see what he was dealing with. And the thing that he saw was very terrifying. The dust particles were making a camouge around the area where Arvin was drinking water. So he was not able to see the face of the being that attacked him. But he sure able to see the tail of the being. And from the looks of it, the tail belonged to that of a snake. The sheer grith of the stomach of the snake was enough for Arvin to understand what kind of snake he was dealing with. The girth of the stomach was enough to fit two big sumo wrestlers in them with ease. And that was the clear indication of the size of that behemoth of a snake. So Arvin just started running again, but soon his instincts kicked in again, and once he jumped toward his side. And as he did, the face of the snake got mmed at the tree that was just in front of Arvin. This time Arvin was able to dodge the attack barely. It was a very close call, while on the other hand, that snake didn''t look faze as he mmed into a tree just a few moments ago. As the snake noticed that his prey was getting away, so it started slithering its way towards Arvin with full speed. While running Arvin started making some ns about what he should do about the giant snake that was pursuing him relentlessly. If it had been any other animal then all that he had to do was run from that animal''s territory. Then the animal would not pursue him after that. But the snakes were the kind of predators that do not have territory. So while running, Arvin started thinking about what he could do about the snake now? Whileing to the Doja city, Arvin had made some poisonous mana bombs. He thought that he should carry them if something happens. But the thing was that Arvin needed mana stones for his cultivation. So he could not turn all of his mana stones into poisonous mana stone bombs. So in the end he only made 3 poisonous mana stone bombs. As he only had a few poisonous mana stone bombs, he had to use them very carefully. If he uses a bomb on this snake then he would have only two bombs left. And who knows what kind of monstrosity he would encounter in the future. Maybe he would encounter something far worse than this snake. So he had to be careful, about using the mana bombs. He had to use them when it is absolutely important¡­ Arvin tried to maneuver his way through canopies of the tree. As he was maneuvering his way through the tree, the snake didn''t back down. He was still following Arvin like a mad man. Arvin then thought that maybe this snake is fucking hungry. That is why he was pursuing Arvin so relentlessly. It was then he had an idea. If all what snake want is food, then he could easily get some amount of food for him. Arvin then maneuvered its way and started running towards the ce where panthers and those weird dogs were fighting. It took some time but Arvin soon arrived at the ce where those guys were fighting before. As Arvin got there he saw that the dogs were now dead. One of the panthers were injured while the other one was standing over a dog''s body and was eating it. As the panthers saw that Arvining towards them while running at full speed they started growling and both of them lunged towards Arvin. They started running towards Arvin, while Arvin was running towards them. As they both got close to Arvin, they both jumped on him together. But as they did, the Arvin that they jumped on vanished in thin air, and then theynded on the ground. Both the pathers looked confused about what had happened. But as they were standing there confused they were both attacked by a vicious 500-ton monster that just arrived at the scene¡­ Arvin made three clones and they split in different directions. The snake that was behind him saw and that when he started following the illusion at the left. As Arvin saw that his n worked, he just made his illusion run towards the panthers. And then the rest was history. ¡­ As Arvin finally was able to outrun that damned snake, he started running towards his original goal again. It was a good thing that he was able to ess his inventory. Or otherwise, he would have been lost in the jungle without it as the inventory had hispass. So while he was running, Arvin was suddenly attacked by a projectile. As that projectile was thrown without any killing intent or magic, he was not able to feel it. So that projectile hit Arvin on the back of his head and then he fell down. Arvin got as soon as he could. He then checked the object that had hit him. He looked at the object and saw that this object looked like a kind of fruit. Arvin didn''t recognize the fruit nor he had seen that kind of fruit before. But the thing was that this fruit was the size of a coconut. And it was huge. Arvin looked around to see where this fruit came from. But he couldn''t found anything. Arvin tried to sense that there was non one around him at the moment. Which got him confused about who threw the fruit. But before Arvin could think any further, another fruit hit straight on his shoulder. This time he was able to see the general direction of the ce where this fruit came from. But as he looked towards the direction and saw that there was no one in the direction. But it was then Arvin noticed that in that direction behind a tree he could see a white color tailing from behind the tree. Arvin understood that the culprit that he had been looking for was hiding behind the tree. He thought that rather than wasting his time on the culprit he would rather run towards his destination. So he ignored the whitetail and started running again. But this time he made sure that his guard was up for attacks such as this¡­ And sure enough, just 100 m from his position Arvin was attacked by the fruit once again. This time he was ready so he dodged the attack. At first, it was one or two fruit at a time. But as Arvin ventured on and on without taking a single hit, the amount of fruit that was attacking him started to increase. But it was still manageable. Arvin did not attack the beings that were throwing fruits at him. And that was because he waiting for the right moment to attack them. From the way this thing concealed them, it was very hard to find them. So in case, he misses his shot or something unexpected happens then these beings would go into hiding and thus Arvin would not be able to have his revenge. So Arvin waited for the right moment. And sure enough, he was right to wait for the moment. As the fruits were not hitting him, the beings started following him and started throwing more and more and fruits at him. But Arvin was able to dodge them. Thus they started getting anxious and sure enough, they started letting their guard down. Arvin was then finally able to feel three small mana signatures that were following him. Arvin then made about 50 illusions of himself. And those illusions started getting scattered all over the ce¡­ The beings that were throwing fruits at Arvin were the type of monkeys that had a resemnce to a white baboon. As these monkeys saw those illusions they got scared. But when they saw that the illusions would vanish when they would hit them, they started getting excited. They started targetting all of their targets. But in that situation, they let their guardpletely down. And that allowed Arvin to sneak up to those little monkeys. And as he did, he butchered them one by one. All three of the monkeys were so busy dealing with Arvin''s illusion that they didn''t notice that theirrade was no longer alive. And soon came the turn of thest and final monkey. As Arvin was sneaking up to him, that monkey noticed that something was amiss there. That monkey tried to feel hisrades and sensed that they were no longer alive. This freaked the monkey out and he started to make to scream¡­ OO¡­AA¡­OO¡­AA¡­OOA¡­.Ooooaaa¡­.OOAA¡­OOAaa But by then it was toote. Arvin had already arrived by the monkey. And then he stabbed the monkey from behind and thus he killed the monkey for once and all¡­ As there were no more obstacles now, Arvin started running again. For some amount of time, Arvin didn''t meet any more obstacles. Everything was going just fine. It was then Arvin encountered something. As he was running, he sensed that arge group of mana signatures was converging towards him. There were around 50 of those beings and they wereing his way. Arvin wanted to avoid confrontation at any cost. So he changed his direction. This way he would be able to avoid confrontation with those beings. He would waste some time in changing direction and all, but it would be worth it if he can get out of this situation scot-free. So he changed his general direction. He went towards his left and made some distance between him and those beings. And then he started running towards his destination once again. Butdy luck was not in the mood to show any mercy to him that day¡­ Chapter 151 - -65 As Arvin was running towards his destination he sensed that beings from before that wereing his way had changed their direction again and now we''reing towards his again. As Arvin sensed that he got confused. Were these things following him? He could not tell what kind of beings these guys were but, it was clear that these were tracking him. Arvin thought that he should increase his speed. If these are good trackers then they would be able to find him wherever he goes. As he did not have time to waste in covering his tracks the best option for him now would be to increase his speed and get to his destination as soon as possible. So Arvin started to increase his speed a little by little. He had been saving his stamina for a moment like this. Thus he started speeding up¡­ After half an hour of running at full speed, Arvin finally couldn''t sense those beings behind him. But still, he didn''t slow down. If he was right then he was getting closer and close to the pyramid. And soon he would be able to reach it. So it would be foolishness to slow down now. But that was a mistake. While running fast, it was a little hard to keep track of the little details in the surrounding. So it could be said that although Arvin''s guard was still up, it didn''t have the same defensive capabilities it used to have¡­ While running, Arvin crossed a tripwire. As Arvin sensed that he had just crossed a trip, it was toote. BOOOM An explosion urred just on the left side of Arvin. That explosion flung Arvin to his right. It was a lethal explosion. If Arvin would have been able to utilize his mana then he would have covered his full body with mana. That could have at least lessened the damage to some sort. But as he was not able to use his mana that explosion hurt his left side real bad. Most of his left arm was burned. While his head was spinning like crazy and his ears were ringing very loudly. It took about a min or two for Arvin to get hold of himself. It was then he was assaulted by the pain of burning. He looked towards his left arm and as he saw that burned side, he understood that his left side is useless for now. He had read in the books that there were potions that could mend severely burned arms and legs. So he did not have to worry about that for now. But he had to do something about the pain. Arvin then opened his inventory and started treating himself. From the first floor till now he had not been very active inbat. And he hardly got wounded like this before. So all the medical supplies that he had collected till now were collecting dust in his inventory¡­ Thinking about the future Arvin collected all the medical supplies that he could. And in that huge stockpile for the medical supplies, he had some things that could help treat such a severe burn. So first Arvin pooped some pain killers for the pain. . That belt would act Then he brought a bottle of expensive whiskey and had some sips of it. Then he brought out what looked like a leather belt from his inventory. He folded the belt and shoved it in his mouth. That belt would act as a mouth guard for what was about to happen. Then he poured the other half of the bottle into his hand. He did this as the whiskey would act as a disinfectant. And then he started applying a white lotion type thingy all over his hand¡­ The whiskey and the painkillers helped with some of the pain. But they still weren''t able to get rid of all of the pain. Plus when applying the white lotion on his burn wounds, Arvin felt that the pain that he was feeling multiplied. Arvin whimpered and screamed with the pain while he was applying the whole lotion. But that leather belt helped to suppress his screams. After everything, Arvin''s left arm was still paining like hell. But he knew that he didn''t have a lot of time left. He had to get out of there. Arvin got up and tried to run. But his body was in no condition to run. He was in a lot of pain. So all that he could do at the moment was to drag his feet behind and slowly walk. But as Arvin walking, it was then he heard another explosion behind him. As he heard the explosion behind him, he understood that someone must have tripped on another booby trap. It was then Arvin realized that the sound of the explosion came from the back. That meant whatever was blown away by that mine was behind him. It was then he remembered that previously he had sensed some beings that were tracking him. Arvin then tried to remember how much time had passed since the explosion? How much did he take to do first aid? As Arvin couldn''t get an appropriate answer, he understood that he had to run. There was no way in hell he could outnumber or outmaneuver 50 beings in this condition. So Arvin started running again. His body was aching but still, he couldn''t stop now. It was then Arvin felt some killing intent in the air. Then he sensed that a projectile wasing his way. He immediately ducked towards his right. The projectile that wasing towards Arvin, mmed into the tree that was in front of Arvin. He then looked at the projectile and he was shocked by what he saw. He saw that a two-handed ax had mmed itself in front of the tree. First Arvin was shocked by the fact that someone was able to throw the ax that big. And with this much uracy. This was simply unbelievable¡­ AAAAOOOOOOOAAAAA Arvin heard a roar. It was not a typical roar of a tiger, wolf, or lion. It was more like a scream. And it came from the direction from where the ax came flying towards Arvin. He then looked towards the general direction and it was then he saw it. In that general direction, Arvin saw a huge white baboon. He was huge. If Arvin would have guessed it then while standing on his hind leg, the baboon would have been around 7 feet high. And the way the baboon was staring at Arvin, it had started giving Arvin chills. It was then Arvin remembered the baboons that he killed earlier. They were also white color baboons. But they were smaller in size. So it seems that he had identally killed some of the kids of that monkey right there¡­ As the baboon saw that Arvin was also staring back at him, he started beating his chest like king kong. And then he screamed once again¡­ AAAAOOOOOO But this time as he screamed, his scream was apanied by screams of various baboons was his group. The screams of the baboons reverberated through the whole forest area. As Arvin heard those baboons, he started to run. Hearing the screams of all these baboons alone was enough to make him shudder in fear. The baboon that threw the ax showed that these baboons were in fact indeed powerful. As they had the advantage of numbers it would be very hard for Arvin to handle them. So all he could do now was move¡­ As Arvin was running away from the pack of baboons, he started hearing rustling noises from the tree from behind him. The baboons seemed to be following and they were really close. Suddenly he started sensing projectilesing his way from behind. Arvin ducked and jumped to avoid them. He got a glimpse of the projectiles and it turns out that these projectiles were spears. As he saw that the baboons were using weapons to fight him, he understood that this time he would not be able to out-maneuver these animals. He may have to use his trump card to kill those damned monkeys. Now, all that Arvin needed now was a chance. He understood that he would get only one chance to use his trump card. But if he does this then he would need to kill as many baboons as he can. As Arvin was thinking that he should his trump card, an explosion took ce on his far left. As he saw that he understood that some monkey must have tripped a booby trap. Then he heard another explosion from behind and then just a few secondster he heard his far-right¡­ Listening to those explosions Arvin started to think that maybe thedy luck have not given up on him yet. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!