《Monster Among Monster's》 Chapter 1: Monster Awakened From Slumber ¡°Alright everyone, we''re here. I know everyone is excited about this Ancient Ruin but I want all of you to focus and pay attention. It wasn''t easy coming here so let''s make sure that we all leave this place alive and wealth filling up our pockets, got it?¡± ¡°Got it!¡± ¡°Now, Lloyd, the stage is yours. Quickly find the entrance and let''s get rich! After this job, I''m gonna take a long vacation with my wife and kids.¡± A group of cloaked figures chatted cautiously with one another as they hid in the darkness of the night. They stood on the thick branches of a tall tree white facing an enormous mountain. Apart from looking majestic, there wasn''t anything special about this mountain. The cloaked figure called Lloyd jumped off the tree and landed on the hard ground. He then studied the mountain with great attention and after about an hour, he found something. He was already very far from his comrades since the mountain was so big. ¡°Guys, I seem to have found the entrance. It''s approximately ten kilometers east. Come quickly, over!¡± ¡°Roger! Just give us a few minutes, we''ll be with you shortly, over!¡± The group of cloaked figures then disappeared from the tall tree and travelled at amazing speed towards Lloyd''s direction. ¡­ In just ten minutes, they reached their destination where Lloyd was waiting for them. ¡°Lloyd, did you really find the entrance in such a short amount of time. It''s way faster than usual.¡± ¡°Don''t worry, it was unexpectedly easy. Come check it out.¡± Lloyd then proceeded to lead them to the entrance that they were talking about. At the said entrance was a huge boulder that seemed to be blocking something behind it. A few plants and weeds had been removed from the vicinity, probably by Lloyd and the entrance was neatly cleaned up. On the boulder, there were words written but due to nature or the passage of time, these words were on the verge of fading away, some even incomplete. ¡°Lily, your turn. Quickly translate these words and see if we can enter the cave without triggering any traps or causing a commotion. And remember to take your time, the owners of this backyard are not people we can afford to offend so be as overt as you possibly can.¡± ¡°Don''t worry, I got this.¡± The cloaked figure called Lily stood in front of the boulder and took out something that looked like a magnifying glass. A green light was then released by this object and scanned the words on the boulder. A few minutes later, the object spoke. [Ding! This is the Ancient Language of Earth used hundreds of years ago called English. After a careful translation, completion of missing words and grammar, these words have been perfectly translated!] ¡®English!¡¯ ¡°Captain, we''ve really struck gold this time! This might be a tomb of those important figures of Earth. I heard that Earthlings aren''t afraid to pay good money for such information!¡± ¡°Don''t get too excited, let''s first here what these words mean before we proceed. You know what the Earthlings say, don''t count your chickens before they hatch.¡± ¡°Quickly show me the translation of these words!¡± [Ding! To the descendants of the Zodiacs, the world and everyone living in it. DO NOT, WE REPEAT, DO NOT¡­ by any means, TRY TO ENTER THIS PLACE! AN EXISTENTIAL DANGER LIES WITHIN! A MONSTER UNLIKE NO OTHER IS SEALED INSIDE! ONCE RELEASED, WHEREVER THIS MONSTER GOES, DEATH FOLLOWS SO DO NOT OPEN AND DEFINITELY DO NOT ENTER! WE HOPE THAT BY THE TIME THIS PLACE IS DISCOVERED, THE MONSTER WOULD BE LONG DEAD OR WE''VE BECOME STRONG ENOUGH TO ERADICATE IT! AGAIN, DO NOT RELEASE THIS MONSTER INTO THE WORLD!!!] ¡°What the FUCK?! Does this mean that we came here for nothing?!¡± ¡°Captain, what do we do now? This was obviously written by the ancestors of the Zodiac Clans. Entities more terrifying than the Zodiac Patriarchs!¡± ¡°Yeah, but I''m unwilling to leave this place with empty pockets. We''ve already used up all of our wealth in order to sneak into this place, we can''t just leave right?!¡± Everyone became restless after seeing the clear warning from the one''s who created this ruin. There weren''t treasures inside but instead a terrifying creature that even the Zodiacs Ancestors couldn''t kill it but only managed to seal it here. They began to argue whether to enter the ruin or not and these people were divided into two sides. Five agreed to simply leave the place and not provoke whatever was inside while the other half chose to enter the ruins. Only their leader hadn''t made a choice. ¡°Alright everyone calm down. Those who don''t want to enter the ruins can just wait here and check the coast while the rest of us will explore the ruin. But those who choose not to enter will only get ten percent of whatever we make. How does that sound?¡± ¡°We agree Captain!¡± ¡°We also agree Captain!¡± And just like that, their leader had quickly solved the problem without either side resorting to violence or betrayal. The boulder was then moved away but halfway through, it disinterested and turned into dust that was blown away by the wind. It seemed the boulder couldn''t resist the test of time and just needed a catalyst for its demise. The group then carefully entered the pitch black cave. Surprisingly, those that initially didn''t want to enter the ruins actually changed their minds at the last moment and the group entered together. ¡­ The path was narrow at first but the deeper they walked into the cave, the more spacious it started to become. And unlike walking foward like they were seeing, it felt like they were going down, walking deeper and deeper into the underground. The group travelled for about three hours, and in these three hours, they''d recorded many Array Formations/ Magic Circles, Inscriptions and even a few Runes. All of these were valuable information to those who were interested in them. What shocked the group was that no matter how they tried, anything that released even the faintest bit of light had stopped working. It was as though this place didn''t allow light to exist here. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡­ Thirty days had passed since they''d entered the cave and not once had they encountered danger to traps. The group didn''t feel like they were exploring a Ruin but felt like they were taking a stroll in the garden. This was the first ever Ruin to not have any obstructions either by using booby traps or answering riddles, the journey was very smooth. After a month of travelling, they finally reached their destination, the heart of this cave. They would have arrived here sooner if they hadn''t spent their time recording ancient information. At the core of the cave, they were actually standing high above, very close to the sealing where a massive Magic Circle had been drawn. Below them, about a hundred meters below them, a pool with black liquid was created. There was a person inside the pool but only his head could be seen as the rest of his body was submerged into the pool. A thick chain was wrapped around the man''s neck and many Runes were drawn on it. The man didn''t look old, about twenty five years of age, light skinned with dreadlocks that were very long. ¡°Is that¡­ the ¡®monster¡¯ we were warned about? He seems harmless to me¡­ and very handsome.¡± ¡°Be careful, the more ordinary something is, the more dangerous it might be. We''ve seen everything we had to see, let''s quickly leave this place before we provoke something we shouldn''t.¡± ¡°Alright, guys, let''s rest for a little bit before we leave. I haven''t slept in days and I''m a bit tired.¡± The group set up camp right then and there, everyone took out their tents and went to sleep. They wanted to make a bonfire but couldn''t so they could only give up. The only person who didn''t go to sleep was the female cloaked figure who thought that the man in the pool was very handsome. She sat alone while gazing at the man. She wondered why he could be seen so clearly in this darkness while everything else was so difficult to see. While deep in her thoughts, something crawled behind her, slowly approaching without making a sound and when it was about to strike, it was blocked. ¡°So you finally decided to show yourself. I''ve been waiting patiently for a while now and you finally took the bait.¡± Holding in her hand was a sixty centimeter black centipede with a width of about five centimetres. The centipede had been stalking this group ever since they entered the cave and had been waiting for an opportunity to hunt them down but the opportunity never represented itself until today. Today when it found a victim that it could target without worrying about the others. ¡°Guys, I finally caught it!¡± Everyone walked out of their tents to study the unknown enemy that had been stalking them this whole time. But seeing that it was just a mutated centipede with the ability to blend into the darkness, everyone quickly lost interest. The cloaked lady played with it for a while but also got bored. ¡°Alright guys, we''ve had enough rest. Time to leave this place.¡± ¡°I never thought I''d say this but I miss the sunlight. Being in the dark for too long is not healthy.¡± Everyone then packed their things and prepared to leave, the cloaked lady with the centipede also packed her stuff with the others. When everyone was ready, she killed the centipede and threw it into the black pool of water and they left. She didn''t see that when the centipede fell into the pool, some of its blood splashed onto the man''s face. ¡­ Fifteen minutes later, the group was happily leaving the cave and they had truly gained a lot from this trip. Some were chatting about taking a vacation, some chatting about buying an island while others were just thinking about how much money they were going to make. Suddenly¡­ Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank! The sound of chains clashing reverberated in their ears. The sound was very feint but they heard it clearly. Instead of stopping, everyone increased their pace, walking faster and taking larger strides. Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank! The sound of chains clashing reverberated in ears again, this time a bit louder than before. The group started jogging in an orderly manner without pushing each other. Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank! When the chains reverberated for the third time, the group simply ran for their lives but even then, they did it in an orderly and calm manner. Not pushing someone back in order to survive, it seemed like they were experienced in this kind of thing. One of the cloaked figures looked back to see if anything was chasing behind them but there was nothing except for the two glowing red rubies. ¡®Wait a minute¡­¡¯ The person remembered that no light was allowed in this place but he was actually seeing two rubies that glowed while in the air. He then turned around and ran faster than everyone. The others were shocked by this, looked back only for their eyes to widen in shock and run even faster. Their backs were drenched in cold sweat and they wished they could run even faster. They ran at full speed for an hour before slowly decreasing their speed. Unfortunately even after running for such a long time, they hadn''t exited the cave yet which showed just how massive the place actually was. ¡°Alright everyone, we''ll take a ten minutes before running at full speed again. Hopefully we''ll make it out before that thing catches up to us.¡± ¡°Yes, Capta¡­¡± Whoosh! Puchi! Ba dum! Ba dum! Ba dum! Ba dum! They were about to reply to their leaders when they were interrupted by something passing by them at incredible speed. In a blink of an eye, a skinny naked man stood in front of them while holding a beating heart. There was a gaping wound on Captain''s chest where his heart was supposed to be. The man holding the beating heart was skinny, very skinny like a walking skeleton with a little bit of flesh to cover the bones. Only his face was unaffected for some reason. The man wasn''t very tall, about 5¡¯8 with his penis dangling in the wind. Pubic hair had overgrown. He was handsome, very handsome, especially now when he was smiling. The man then proceeded to eat the Captain''s heart right in front of them. The sound of chewing and swallowing scared them shitless. Seeing his heart being devoured right in front of him, Captain collapsed on the ground and died. Apart from the man with dreadlocks eating, the wasn''t any other sound. Some had tried to run away but their bodies just wouldn''t follow their commands. ¡°Delicious! Simply delicious! How long has it been since I''ve tasted human flesh! It seems that over the years, the taste has improved by leaps and bounds, how unexpected.¡± said the man. Hearing what he said, everyone involuntarily shivered, some wet themselves while others shat themselves. This was how terrified they were. Some tried to plead for mercy but the words wouldn''t come out of their mouths. The man ignored the group and picked up the dead Captain''s body. He then carefully removed his clothes until the Captain was fully naked. He had a muscular body which had obviously underwent vigorous training. It was also full of energy and vitality that it surprised the man. Even though he was surprised, this didn''t stop him from continuing with his actions. He ripped off the legs and arms off the torso, leaving only the penis and the head. He then ate the man''s limbs like they were the most delicious thing in the world and in no time had finished eating. Then removed the penis and the balls and threw them away, used his nails to cut open the man''s stomach where he ate the intestines like he was eating noodles, chewed on the liver but threw away the gizzard and finally cracked his skull open, ate his brain like he was eating a delicacy. Once all the meat was eaten, he targeted the ribs and bones that were left. Ten minutes later, Captain''s corpse had disappeared, even his blood wasn''t spared and was drunk by the man. The group had watched the entire process, and with each bite, the more horrified they became. It was only now that they understood the warning that was written on the boulder that blocked the entrance of this cave. ¡®Zodiac Ancestors! Fuck you! Fuck you and your entire families! Why the fuck didn''t you tell us that this guy eats people! Fuck you!¡¯ they all cursed inwardly. ¡°Ah! What a sumptuous meal¡­ and I''m glad there''s more from where that came from. Don''t worry, it will all be over soon.¡± said the man while smiling. His mouth,neck and chest were dyed red with blood with pieces of flesh stuck between his teeth, making him look very scary. And just like that, the slaughter began. ¡°AHHHH!!!¡± ¡°DON''T KILL ME! PLEASE DON''T KILL ME!!!¡± ¡°STAY BACK! I SAID STAY BACK!!!¡± ¡°WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! PLEASE JUST KILL ME! PLEASE KILL¡­ AHH¡­ AHH¡­ AHH¡­¡± The women were raped before being killed and eaten while the men were killed instantly and eaten. The ancients truly weren''t lying when they said that a monster was sealed inside the mountain. And now that it had finally regained its freedom, only god knows what it was gonna do but Death, Death would definitely follow this guy. Chapter 2: Goblins A day later, someone made it out of the mountain cave. He was wearing a white vest made from very strong silk that couldn''t be easily torn through but the vest now had a hole on it as well as blood stains around the chest area. He also wore a black leather jacket, brown trousers and boots made from animal skin, similar to the vest, the pants and boots weren''t made from ordinary materials but very strong and durable material. The leather jacket was made from the skin of a crocodile so it had the highest defense. On his pinkie finger was a ring crafted to perfection by a true expert. This ring had wave patterns around it and a big black diamond was used as the centrepiece. ¡°Finally out! How great the smell of fresh air actually is!¡± It was the man who had been sealed inside the mountain for hundreds of years. He now had some meat in his body and wasn''t as skinny as he was previously, his crimson eyes had returned to their normal colour which was ocean blue. ¡°I guess I''m in the territory of the hypocritical geezers. It''s great that I saved a little bit of my power to help me escape or else I''d just be recaptured or maybe even killed. Now, which way should I go, damn it, I should have spared one person to be my guide but I was starving so it couldn''t be helped!¡± The man then began to walk, he didn''t walk forward but instead upwards. Yes, the man was walking on air like it was actually solid ground. Once he was hundreds of meters high up in the air, he could see the beautiful greenery spanning for tens of thousands of kilometers without end. ¡®Was this place always so big?¡¯ he thought to himself. He didn''t dwell much on it and focussed on leaving this place. Crimson energy enveloped his whole body, especially his legs. [Movement Art: Shooting Star!] His entire figure released a blinding crimson light that emitted massive amounts of energy. It was like he had become a star shining brightly in the night sky and with a single step, he became a mote of light that flew at incredible speed and in a few seconds, he''d disappeared from sight. This spectacle had of course alerted powerful figures who then came to investigate. ¡­ Inside a luxurious and spacious hall, beautifully decorated with golden pillars, silk curtains and marbled floor. It wouldn''t be an exaggeration to say this was a place fit for a king. Inside this hall, a muscular man sat on his throne lazily. He was so big that one could mistake him for a giant, standing at a whopping five meters, big but perfectly sculpted muscles like a work of art, goatee beard and long black hair. He was handsome, dignified and majestic, especially with his pale green eyes. He wore simple robes that allowed for freedom, comfort and flexibility while also maintaining the man''s image. ¡°Reporting to My Lord, it seems that someone has infiltrated the forbidden zone of the Zodiacs. We''ve confirmed the identity of the perpetrators using the blood and hair we found there. It''s the Natural Explorers, an exploration group that hasn''t existed for long. We''ve also deduced that they were somehow eliminated and their corpses disposed off but we''re¡­¡± The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Eaten.¡± said the man on the throne. ¡°Pardon me My Lord but I don''t underst¡­¡± ¡°You won''t find the corpses because they were eaten. Inside that cave, a monster was sealed by the Zodiac Ancestors and rumour has it that person ate people. I had completely forgotten about this information because I read it a long time ago and didn''t believe it was actually true¡± ¡°So what should we do My Lord, someone whom the ancestors had to act personally to get rid of must surely be strong, if¡­¡± ¡°Don''t worry about it. With the changes Earth has undergone, Nolan probably won''t even bother to come back since much more interesting things now exist here, at least he won''t bother us in the short term.¡± ¡°My Lord, who is Nolan?¡± ¡°The monster that was sealed inside the mountain cave. His name is Nolan, Nolan Cooper, son of George Cooper or at least he used to be.¡± ¡°Cooper? Then doesn''t that mean he''s from ¡®that¡¯ family? My Lord, this is greater than¡­¡± ¡°Don''t worry. He''s not part of the Cooper Family nor will he ever be. After what he became, how could the Coopers actually take him back, they''ll probably kill him on the spot if he dares to go there. And even if he comes after us, I''m sure I can easily take care of him. I''ve said enough, contact the other families and find out what the others have decided on and report directly to me.¡± ¡°Yes My Lord, I shall complete the job perfectly My Lord.¡± The muscular man then watched his subordinate leave. Immediately after he left the throne room, a shadowy figure appeared behind the muscular man without leaving a trace. [You know that you have to report this incident to the higher ups right. We were strictly instructed to report everything that has happens in that place, aren''t you afraid angering the ancestor?] ¡°Relax. I have everything under control. If that bastard Nolan wants revenge for what happened in the past then I welcome him to come and try, I''ll make sure to teach him a valuable lesson he''ll never forget for as long as he lives.¡±said the giant of the man on the throne confidently. His pale green eyes now glowing brightly. ¡­ The man or rather Nolan who''d flown far away from the Zodiacs territories found himself inside a primitive forest. There was tall glass and trees everywhere. The small animals living there were very loud, insects sang while birds chirpped. Nolan didn''t dislike such an environments and even liked it, afterall, it was much better than being in that isolated cave. ¡°Earth has become much bigger than I remember, I wonder what happened. Also, there are also new species or at least new to me. How long was I asleep for exactly? Plus, I''ve lost all my power now and no different from a normal huma¡­ maybe a bit stronger than a normal human hehe.¡± he thought. As he walked deeper and deeper into the forest, the more silent it became and the more sparse the trees were. Nolan didn''t notice any of this because he was deep in thoughts and didn''t care about his surroundings and by the time he realised this, it was already too late. [Krrrrrrrrr!] He was now surrounded by s group of creatures that were quite unfamiliar to him but read about them a lot. The creatures were short, about a meter tall, very skinny with bald heads. These creatures had very long noses, a few sharp teeth with a two centimeter gap between them, horizontal shaped pupils similar to those of goats but filled with craziness and ferocity. These creatures also had very long and sharp ears, green skin and sharp fingernails. Yes, Nolan was surrounds by a horde of goblins that numbered at least a hundred and more were still rushing over. They were holding wooden spears, rock axes and iron swords, some that were on the trees had their bows and arrows ready to launch. Surprisingly, the goblins didn''t attack upon contact but warily looked at Nolan. ¡°Wow, goblins! I never thought this day would come. I read about you in novels, it''s said that you''re very weak but have a very high reproductive rate, I guess they were telling the truth. Just when I was thinking about my next step, you guys showed up at such a perfect time. From today onwards, you are my slaves and shall do as I say, now take me to your precious leader!¡± Chapter 3: Goblin King Nolan was currently sitting on the throne of bones that was reserved for the goblin king. Currently, the goblin king and his personal army were nowhere to be seen and since Nolan couldn''t understand a word said by the goblins, he didn''t bother to ask them. He just sat comfortably inside the goblin king''s chambers while looking at everything happening below. Apart from the watchtowers, the goblin king''s chambers were actually built on the tallest tree that was at the centre of the village, the tree was very tall. He could see everything from within his village and slightly beyond. And because of such a perfect location, the goblin never experienced an ambush since sneaking in was impossible unless the enemy came from above. With this, the goblin village was able to thrive, develop and grow to what it was today. The current number of goblins was in the tens of thousands and the number was still growing. [Krrrrrrrr!] One of the goblins from the watchtowers roared loudly and communicated with the other goblins which then rushed towards the village entrance to welcome the goblin king and his troops. Nolan followed behind the goblins while riding a black wolf that was as big as a fully grown cow. He had found this wolf inside the village out in the open, thick chains were used to tie it up in a manner that it could only remain in place. Nolan immediately fell in love with it and ordered the goblins to untie it, feed it and treat its injuries. Although it took quite some time and a bit of effort, his hard work bore fruits and the goblins did as told. Now, Nolan was curiously sizing up the goblin king and his troops while the latter was also doing the same. ¡°Krrrrrr¡­Grrrrr¡­ Gigigi¡­¡± One of the goblins made these weird noises and communicated with the goblin king, probably explaining the situation to its former king. After it was done explaining, the goblin king nodded a few times in understanding. ¡°You! Yes you! Come! Come here! Come!¡± said Nolan while pointing at the goblin that was talking to the goblin king. There was no animosity in Nolan''s eyes nor did he show signs of anger so the goblin slowly approach. Puchi! A hand stabbed through the goblin¡¯s neck, green blood splashed everywhere and it instantly died. Nolan didn''t throw away the corpse after killing the goblin, instead, he pulled it up with his hand, ripped its head off and started munching on it. ¡°Let me make myself clear! I will not tolerate any form of insubordination from my slaves and servants! Since I''m your king as well as your master, you only have to listen to orders given by me! UNDERSTOOD!!!¡± Although the goblins didn''t speak human, they completely understood what Nolan was saying through his flimsy gestures. ¡°And you¡­ SUBMIT OR DIE!!!¡± said Nolan while gazing at the goblin king and his troops with glowing crimson red eyes. He also released a terrifying Bloodthirsty Aura that caused the goblins to involuntarily shudder and prostrate themselves in front of their new king. This included some of the goblin king''s troops who were shook by such a terrifying aura. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Only the goblin king and his trusted aides were left standing but their knees had become soft, constantly shaking. These few goblins had the same height as a human adult with the goblin king being taller. It stood at a whopping two and a half meters, wore bronze plated armour and held a massive battleaxe. [Zaza greets the new king!] said the goblin king in a hoarse voice while kneeling on one knee. [Riri greets the new king!] [Bibi, Bobo, Buba greets the new king!] [Gege, Guga, Gigi, Gaga greets the new king!] ¡°Good! I didn''t expect you to be able to speak the human language. For pledging fealty to me, I shall make you one of the fearsome races in the world!¡± ¡­ Zaza and Riri watched as Nolan retreated back to his chambers and heaved a sigh of relief when Nolan disappeared from sight. [Zaza, you felt it too didn''t you? Is it why you chose to bend the knee without even fighting?] asked Riri the female goblin. [Of course I felt it, the most important ability for us goblins is Danger Sense so how could I not sense it. That hu¡­ His Majesty seems special. I''ve never seen someone like him.] answered Zaza. [Especially his gaze! That wasn''t a gaze a normal human should have, even those crazy humans don''t have such a gaze. The way he looked at us¡­ like we''re high quality food just waiting to be eaten, that scared me!] said Riri. [Me too. That''s why I didn''t dare to fight him. And the way he ate Dira, how can someone have such a complete disregard for the living. Whatever you do, don''t end up on his plate, His Majesty won''t hesitate to eat you!] [And that Bloodthirsty Aura, just how many lives did he take in order to exude such a thick and terrifying Bloodthirsty Aura?!] [I don''t know¡­ but it''s probably more than a million lives¡­] ¡­ Back in his treehouse, Nolan was resting on his bone throne with his eyes closed. He had just arrived here and had already made himself at home, this was somethings was capable of since they''d always be wary of sudden ambushes but Nolan acted as if he was in the safest place. Knock! Knock! Knock! ¡°Come in.¡± [Your Majesty, I''ve brought the people you wanted to meet, should I bring them inside or leave them out?] said Gege. Before he left, Nolan had tasked Gege with the job of bringing the human captives to his chambers. ¡°Bring them inside.¡± [Yes, Your Majesty!] A crowd of women entered the chambers through the main door. They wore rags, their skin dirty and they stank, like really stank. Their eyes were lifeless like their souls had left their bodies. Gege then peeked at Nolan to see his reaction when he saw the condition these women were in. Usually, the humans who had come here before would show expressions of disgust, empathy and care for the women while showing contempt and deep hatred for the goblins, a clear indication that they were arch enemies. When Gege looked at Nolan, he was shocked to see that Nolan didn''t react to the women''s condition. He didn''t stare coldly at him or try to speak up for the treatment of these women. His eyes were as tranquil and peaceful as that of Buddha''s. ¡°Greetings everyone, I''m the new owner of the Goblin Village. The reason I brought you here is because I Iack information about the current world and its workings. Anyone who can provide me with this information will be given a swift and painless death, so, who wants to die, please come forward.¡± After speaking, Nolan waited patiently for someone to respond but no one seemed interested. Their eyes remained blank and lifeless. After ten minutes of silence, Nolan repeated what he said but the response was the same, no one said anything. ¡°Gege, take them back where you found them. These goods are broken goods, they died a long time. By the way, these are all the humans we have left right?¡± [Ye¡­ well¡­uhm¡­] ¡°Speak!¡± [Only two humans aren''t here Your Majesty. They are just kids so I didn''t think I needed to bring them, please forgive Your Majesty ¡°What are their names?] asked Nolan. [Hedge¡­ Hedge and Edge! They are twins that Zaza found while travelling outside.] ¡°Bring them to me. Call Zaza too.¡± [Yes¡­ Your Majesty!] Chapter 4: Twins Five minutes passed before Gege came back. He was carrying two children while Zaza walked shoulder to shoulder with him. [I greet His Majesty!] ¡°No need for pleasantries.¡± said Nolan with his attention fully focused on the two babies Gege was carrying. He didn''t care about the kneeling Zaza, at least not at the moment. ¡°Give them to me.¡± Gege then gave Nolan the children. It was two boys of about thirteen years of age. Both boys looked identical to one another, like looking at one''s reflection. The boys had dark chocolate skin, black hair and black eyes. There wasn''t anything extraordinary about these two black kids but Nolan was extremely interested in them. ¡°Introduce yourselves,¡± he said. ¡°My name is Hedge, I am thirteen years old and I was born without Mana Affinity.¡± said Hedge. ¡°My name is Edge, I am thirteen years old and I was born with Clogged Mana Veins.¡± answered Edge. The two boys answered honestly without hiding anything from Nolan. Nolan nodded in appreciation at their honesty and simple thinking. ¡°What about your surname, you haven''t told me that. Also, your Elemental Affinity, tell me that too.¡± ¡°We don''t have surnames because our father doesn''t believe that we are his children so he didn''t share his surname with us. Our mother also couldn''t give us her surname because if she did then it would be admitting that she had a relationship outside of marriage so we grew up without one. As for Elemental Affinity, I also don''t have it, Edge has Earth Affinity.¡± ¡°No surname? I guess you can give yourselves surnames once you grow up and start your own families. As for Hedge, your Talent is straight out trash, it shouldn''t even be called Talent, no wonder your father denied you at birth. If I were him, I''d have killed you the minute you were born. Your brother at least is not half bad.¡± said Nolan. ¡°Would you really do that if your child was born without Talent? Why do you treat us like this just because we don''t have Talent?!Ain''t I still your child?! Ain''t I still a living being with hopes and dreams?! I also have things I want to accomplish in life! I am human too! Why treat me like an animal when I''m clearly not?! Why judge me based on my Talent alone and overlook everything else?!¡±vented Hedge as tears ran down his face. He''d clearly suffered a lot while growing up and had a lot of pent up rage that was on the eve of exploding. For a child to experience such hardships at such an early age showed just how society could fuck someone''s entire life up. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°Okay then tell me, without Talent, what can you achieve? Can you fight? Can you protect that which you love? Can you take what you want? Wake up to reality! This is a dog eat dog world! This is an environment where only the strong thrive, weaklings have no place here! This is a place where only Strength can give you what you want, nothing else! Why do you think I''m here while you were kept captive somewhere? Why do you think he''s so respectful towards me?! Weaklings shouldn''t be allowed to dream, they shouldn''t be allowed to breathe, shouldn''t even exist!¡± said Nolan. Hedge wanted to retort but no words came out of his mouth. Every single word Nolan said was the truth and nothing but the truth. Hedge remembered when his mother begged to not be thrown out of their home. She was spared due to her previous contributions but the two brothers weren''t spared and were immediately given to the goblin king as a gift. Their mother was too weak to save them. He also remembered what their father used to tell them while they were living together; ¡°If you want to make it out of his hell hole then become strong. Become strong enough to be able to control your fate or strong enough to stop others from trying to control your fate.¡± ¡°But don''t worry, since you''re now under my wing, I''ll make sure that you reach the peak of your potential matter how small. You and your brother shall become my generals, killing whoever stands in my way. You shall pave my blood with the blood and corpses of my enemies! Your names shall resound far and wide, bringing fear to those who hear it.¡± said Nolan with excitement. His eyes glowed crazily in excitement for the near future. ¡­ The two kids were taken away by Gege to their new rooms since they were now under Nolan''s protection, their status had changed and were now being treated like VIP''s. Now, only Nolan and Zaza were left in the king''s chambers and Zaza was still kneeling in front of Nolan, who now sat on his throne which was much bigger than Nolan. ¡°Do you know about the geography of Earth currently? If so then provide me with all the information that you have and don''t leave anything out. Also, explain to me the current situation of the world regarding the powerhouses, their territories, their source of power and everything in between.¡± said Nolan. ¡­ A few hours later, Zaza finally finished explaining what he knew about Earth and its current situation. ¡°You''re dismissed!¡± ¡°Yes, Your Majesty¡± Nolan was now left alone in his room so he could now digest the information he obtained. The information he obtained shocked him to the core. Currently, there were five continents that made up Earth Five Continents, Wind, Water, Fire, Earth and Ice Continents. These continents were extremely massive, so massive that they were bigger than actual planets and the previous Earth could be compared to a small country or island that are around the coasts of every continent. There also existed floating islands, Dungeons, Towers, Gates and other kinds of phenomena. Countless Races now lived in Earth, some lived in isolation while others acted in the open, created kingdoms and empires that withstood the test of time and existed even today. And the place they were currently in was actually a small island along the coast of the Earth Continent. Half of this continent was owned by humans and majority of the land was in the hands of the Zodiac Families since they were leading figures of humanity and held immense power. ¡°Hahaha! Hahaha! Ah hahaha! You old geezers thought that I''d run out of lifespan and actually die in that mountain cave! Unfortunately for you, luck is on my side! Earth has become exciting¡­ very exciting, hahaha! I wonder if the flesh of Elves is more delicious than that of Dragons! The Power System Limit has also increased, now, there are realms that far surpass the Celestial Realm! This is truly a good time to live!¡± Chapter 5: Improvement ¡°Zaza, is His Majesty still not out of close door training?¡± asked Gege. ¡°Yes, why do you ask?¡± Zaza responded. ¡°I''ve heard from the humans that the Recruitments Event is about to begin so I wanted to pass on this information to His Majesty.¡± ¡°Don''t worry, I''ll pass on your message to His Majesty once his seclusion has come to an end.¡± ¡°You''ve been saying that for the past three years, at least come up with something new!¡± said Gege angrily. If it was before, Gege wouldn''t dare speak to Zaza like this but now that they were both of the same status he spoke freely. Zaza didn''t lash out at Gege but remained calm. It was as if showing emotions, especially anger, was beneath him. ¡°If there''s nothing else then you may lea¡­¡± suddenly the door behind Zaza showed signs of opening. Then it fully opened and Nolan came out with a smile on his face. ¡°Mhmm. How I missed the taste of fresh air. The feeling of sunlight making contact with my skin. I think I won''t enter seclusion for a while, oh Gege, you''re also here, I didn''t see you there.¡± said Nolan. ¡°Greetings to His Majesty, congratulations on your fruitful closed door training!¡± ¡°Greetings to His Majesty, congratulations on your fruitful closed door training!¡± Both Gege and Zaza knelt down and greeted Nolan with utmost respect, more respectful than three years ago. They weren''t so respectful because they suddenly had a change of heart. No! They were respectful because of what they were currently feeling, they were respectful because of what their instincts and senses were telling. ¡®Absolutely do not antagonise this monster!!!¡¯ is what their feelings, senses and instincts were telling them. If previously, Nolan was just a murderous tiger, now, he was a murderous tiger with wings and no one was safe. The power he was currently releasing was unlike anything they''d ever felt before, it was heavy, overwhelming and oppressive. And it wasn''t just these two that felt Nolan''s terrifying strength, everyone living in the Goblin Village felt it and they all knelt down and greeted. [KRRRRRRRR] [KRRRRRRRR] [KRRRRRRRR] Since many goblins weren''t capable of human speech, they just spoke in their native languages. Seeing this scene, Nolan''s smile became even brighter as he quite loved this feeling of being revered as a god. ¡­ ¡°Speak.¡± After the commotion he caused, Nolan decided to return to his chambers and have Zaza rebrief him on the current situation. The person he was speaking to now was Gege who''d initially come here to report something important to Nolan. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°My Lord, what I came here to report today is about the upcoming Recruitments Event that''s about to take place. It usually occurs every ten years and¡­¡± Gege began to explain what exactly the Recruitments Event was and how significant of an opportunity this was for the masses. Basically, the Recruitments Event is an event that takes place once every ten years. It was created a long time ago by the big organisations that rule Earth. Once every ten years, these organisations will host a joint event where everyone below a certain age or someone of certain qualities will be recruited by an interested organisation. This organisation will then use its resources to nurture the chosen participant in exchange for joining their organisation. After the chosen participant has grown to a certain level, they then help their organisation to obtain more territory, fame, status or power, anything that can help the organisation grow stronger. Sort of like an investment. These organisations could either be Sects, Guilds, Clans, Families and other hidden organisations. Some were in the open while others operated in the dark. ¡°Mhmm.¡± Nolan nodded. ¡°Reporting to My Lord, nothing major has happened in the course of three years that you were in seclusion. There were a few problems that needed¡­¡± Zaza also gave his report to Nolan but it wasn''t as important as Gege''s. ¡°Where are the twins? Tell them to meet me at the village gates. We''re going to visit our neighbours.¡± ¡­ Two extremely tall teenage boys stood in front of Nolan, they had the exact same appearance and if not for their physical conditions, it would be extremely difficult to set them apart. One of the teen boys, who was wearing a beast skin that only covered his private parts stood calmly in the open. His height at three and a half meters which was astounding for a pureblooded human He had perfectly developed muscles that made him look like a golden age bodybuilder champion. Next to this viking of a boy was his brother who wasn''t as tall as him, he also wasn''t bulky but rather had a lean body. This boy''s hair was dirty and filled with sand, his feet dug deep into the sand on the ground. These two boys were obviously Hedge and Edge, the bulky one being Hedge and the dirty haired being Edge. These two had improved by leaps and the course of three years that they''d been living here. Before entering his own seclusion, Nolan had designed a custom made Meditation Art for Edge and a Training Art for Hedge who couldn''t use Mana in the atmosphere. The reason why he could do this wasn''t just because he was a genius but also that the amount of knowledge he had of the human anatomy was as vast and expansive as experienced surgeons. This was also why the goblins were tasked with guarding the village, Nolan hadn''t made Meditation Arts for them because his knowledge of the goblin anatomy is still insignificant. Whoosh! Bang! Nolan out of nowhere struck Hedge with a powerful punch, since it was so sudden and unexpected, Hedge barely managed to raise his hand and block the punch. The palm and punch collided and released an explosion like sound, the force of the collision created a dust cloud. Using the dust as camouflage, Nolan moved at incredible speed and attacked Edge who was standing beside Hedge. Edge though didn''t even move a muscle, the ground rose to create an earth wall that blocked Nolan''s punch. Nolan though didn''t give up, he increased his speed to create afterimages and attacked Edge from all directions but every single attack of his was blocked by Edge¡¯s earth wall. It was like he was the favourite son of earth and it wouldn''t allow even a single attack to pass through it. ¡°Hihihi, hahaha! Nolan, you''ve really done it this time! Hahaha, this is gonna be fun! This is definitely gonna be fun, hahaha!¡± laughed Nolan like a madman who had just been given toys to play with. He then looked at Zaza, Riri, Gege and the others with great anticipation for the future. He was wondering what kind of monsters these goblins would become once they had obtained custom made Meditation Arts. ¡®I''ll have to look out for all sorts of Meditation Arts on this trip but mostly importantly¡­ I must get me some delicious food, jijiji!¡¯ Chapter 6: Small Town The neighbour that Nolan was actually talking about was the neighbouring island called Small Town that was occupied by humans. This island also wasn''t exactly an island since it had a part of it still connected to the Earthen Continent. And rather than calling it a country, it was rather called an island because of how small it actually was as compared to other countries, even those countries considered small were actually bigger than it. The architect of this place was no different from that of the high class residents from 2024. Only a few things had changed here and there but the infrastructure hadn''t changed much. Beautiful houses with swimming pools, beautiful gardens and lawns, vast land and big mansions, luxurious cars that could now fly, robots that now did all the household chores. It had some futuristic taste to it but wasn''t too futuristic. There was only one skyscraper in Small Town and it also acted as a watch tower to guard enemies coming from the sea. Also, the most influential people lived here and so did the City Lord. Of course the most influential in Small Town, not the most influential people on the continent. Currently, the City Lord was having a sumptuous meal that only people like him could afford. There was a large piece of salmon fish cooked to perfection, full chicken, full turkey, pork, juicy ribs, lobster, etc. Just looking at this food would make even a monk want to quit Buddhism. Just behind the City Lord who was happily enjoying his meal, a butler with a bald head and moustache stood calmly behind the man. He wore his uniform and stood there with a stern expression while hanging a white cloth on his forearm. Knock! Knock! Knock! The City Lord ignored the knocking on the golden door and continued eating, the butler was the one who went to check what was going on. Five minutes later the butler came back and whispered something in the City Lord''s ear. The City Lord just nodded and continued eating. ¡°Give me five minutes.¡± After saying that, his eating speed suddenly increased. The full chicken was devoured in just two bites. The lobster shell wasn''t even removed before it was also devoured and in just five minutes, he''d finished eating all the food on the table. He then drank an entire wine bottle before taking the cloth on the butler''s arm and wiped his mouth clean. Burrrrp~ ¡°Let''s go.¡± ¡­ Although Small Town didn''t have a humongous wall to protect the residents, it did have a massive barrier that was invisible most of the time. Only when attacked would the barrier show itself, it was also due to this reason that City Lord didn''t panic after he received the news. Small Town had two gates that were used for entry, West Gate and East Gate. West Gate was for those coming from the sea and East Gate for those coming from the continent and in most cases, it was his superiors who showed up once in a while. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Now, the City Lord, his butler and a few guards approached the West Gate to welcome their unexpected visitors coming from afar. ¡°James my friend, it seems you still haven''t lost weight after a few years of not seeing each other. If you don''t start exercising now, I''m afraid you won''t be able to sire an heir since any woman would be crushed under your weight, hahaha!¡± said the person on the other side of the barrier. ¡°Zaza, still with that vile mouth of yours I see. Just who the fuck taught you the human language?!¡± answers James aka the City Lord. ¡°You know how much of a genius I am so I taught myself the language, hehe. Pretty impressive right?¡± Although it sounded like an exchange from old friends who hadn''t seen each other in a while, their words were filled with hostility and hatred for one another. Nolan who was standing in front studied the man called James. He was very tall, about two meters tall, bald head, scar on the right side of his eye and fat, extremely fat. He wore a red suit that together with his appearance, made him look like a mafia boss rather than a City Lord that deals with paperwork. James on the other hand ignored Nolan and instead looked at the extremely tall teenage boys who were even taller than him. One muscular and the other lean, one with an imposing aura and the other with a reserved aura. ¡®These boys¡­ why do they look so familiar as though I''ve seen them somewhere before?¡¯ thought James to himself as he finally stood a few meters from the barrier. ¡°Gentlemen, what brings you here?¡± asked James. ¡°We want a pass into the continent and you''re the only person I know with such capabilities. It won''t be for free of course, just name your price.¡± Zaza didn''t beat around the bush and went straight to the point. It wasn''t uncommon for nonhuman creatures to want to enter the continent and it also wasn''t prohibited. It would usually take a week after screening and filling out paperwork before being approved but it costed quite a sum of money and only those who could afford to pay the price would be accepted. James knew that Zaza was rich like him so there was no way he would come to him instead of doing things legally. Of course the process would be faster with his help but still, he felt that something wasn''t quite right. ¡°You know that this might cost you an arm and leg right, are you still willing to pay such a price?¡± asked James with a sharp gaze. ¡°Cut the nonsense and get on with it already. I came here prepared for the cost but I also have additional conditions. Instead of Guest QRC, I want Residential QRC''s¡± ¡°Fine, just as long you''re willing to pay the price.¡± These so called Guest QRC''s and Residential QRC''s were actually like visas for immigrants. QRC was short for QR code which was carved on one''s wrist and all of your information that you filled in would be inside this QR code, together with your bank accounts and other relevant information. Now, the difference between a Guest QRC and a Residential QRC was that the former had a time limit for how much time you could stay inside the continent, of course in an owned territory with rules and policies. As for the Residential QRC, it was like having a citizenship of that place you are visiting and it came with other percs. ¡°Follow me then, I''ll show you where you''ll be staying these few days and Zaza, don''t you dare cause me trouble or else¡­ don''t blame me for being ruthless.¡± said James. ¡°Relax, I didn''t come here for your lazy ass. I''m preparing for the Recruitments Event.¡± ¡°But you''ve already surpassed the age limit so how do you plan on participating?¡± ¡°It''s not me who''s participating but them. I found out that the kids you gave me three years ago actually have a lot of potential. Fortunately I didn''t eat them the moment I obtained them or else I''d regret this decision for the rest of my life, hahaha!¡± ¡°WHAT?! IT''S THEM?! NO WONDER THEY LOOK SO FAMILIAR! IF THE SOILDATI WERE TO SEE THEM NOW, I WONDER HOW THEY''D REACT!¡± James exclaimed with a shocked expression. ¡°Hehe, who knew that the rocks you gave me would actually turn out to be hidden gems that just needed a little bit of polishing.¡± ¡°Lucky bastard! How can an ugly thing like you have so much luck! I''m certain that lady luck is actually blind!¡± ¡°Fuck you!¡± Chapter 7: Age? Three uneventful days passed by with Nolan and his group cooped up in their villa. Not once did they leave the villa to check out what kind of place it actually was. And it wasn''t like City Lord James told them to not leave the villa, and the man and his butler came a few times to check up on them. Nolan just waited patiently to complete his QRC as it was most important for his future plans. Finally, after three days it was finally time to complete the QRC process. City Lord James came into their villa carrying with him a tablet that looked extremely advanced. It was as thin as a booklet, had a clear and bright screen and could change colours with but a simple command. ¡°Greetings everyone, I hope you''re all fine. After a few days of waiting, it''s finally time to complete the QRC process. I''m gonna need everyone to answer a few questions and after that, it''s done. Who''s first, come forward.¡± said Lord James. Gege was the first to complete the QRC process. Lord James asked him general questions like his name, surname, birthday, hobbies, interests, skills, race, gender and realm of power which he answered but a few questions were left unanswered and Lord James said it was fine. After the first step was complete, Lord James continued to type something on the tablet and two minutes later, the tablet floated by itself. It then changed from a tablet into a small black square shaped card with a QR code on display. This card then attached itself to Gege''s wrist but it wasn''t anything threatening. Gege felt a slight burn on his wrist but before he could react, the card had already changed back into its tablet form. The group was intrigued by the entire process. ¡°Next!¡± said Lord James. ¡­ In about ten minutes, all the goblins that had accompanied Nolan had QRC''s on their wrists. Some had their QRC on their left wrist while others had them on their right wrist. ¡°Next.¡± James didn''t care about their reactions and called the next person over. It seemed like he wanted to complete the QRC process as soon as possible and it seemed to be a tiring process because his forehead was covered in sweat, it was the same for Alfred the butler. ¡°My name is Hedge, sixteen years old, born 18 September 2134, my hobbies and interests are training, I''m a human and I''m a Nine Star Warrior.¡± ¡°Your name is Hedge? No wonder you looked so familiar, so it''s really the twins! I can''t believe it! Wow, I didn''t expect you to actually find a way to grow stronger. Your family will definitely be shocked by this news. I assume this is your brother Edge, just tell me how strong he is and I''ll complete his QRC process too.¡± ¡°He''s also a Nine Star Warrior like me.¡± answered Hedge. James was shocked but didn''t continue to speak and just focused on his work. The two boys had their QRC¡¯s and it was finally Nolan''s turn. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Name is Nolan, just Nolan. My hobby is eating delicious food. I''m most interested in rare ingredients with unique flavours. I also love having sex so yeah, that''s me. Oh and I''m a Nine Star Warrior.¡± ¡®How can all of you fucking not have last names! Are you fucking kidding me!¡¯ said Lord James internally. ¡°Age?¡± he asked. ¡°Age? Oh, my age but counting from the day I was sealed till now, I''d say I''m a thousand and something years old, I don''t know. Just say I''m a thousand and ten years old, that''ll do.¡± answered Nolan. Lord James quickly finished Nolan''s QRC process and wiped away his sweat using the white cloth Alfred gave him. He was internally shocked that Nolan who looked so young and acted his age was actually so old. ¡®A thousand years¡­ doesn''t that mean that he''s in the¡­¡± Lord James quickly stopped himself from thinking too much. After he was done, Zaza didn''t try to negotiate the cost price with him and just gave him a ring. Lord James took the ring and closed his eyes, a few seconds later, he widened his eyes in surprise and confusion. ¡°This¡­ this is too much¡­¡± he said while gulping hard. ¡°Take what I owe you and as for what''s left, just give me some money for it and it''s all yours. Transfer the money to my master''s account.¡± said Zaza calmly as though he was dealing with a trivial matter. ¡°Are you sure because some of these things are worth more than mon¡­¡± ¡°Are you buying or not? Cut the crap and give me a number, we don''t have all day!¡± ¡°It seems like you''re not playing jokes on me. Buying everything here at market price, I''ll give you a hundred million Mana Crystals, what do you think?¡± ¡°I''ll take it. Quickly make the transfer and we''re out of here.¡± Mana Crystals or MC as they call it is the current currency used on Earth. MC can be used for many things like powering up machines, activating Magic Circles/ Arrays, weapons, etc. But what made MC really valuable was the fact that it could be used as a Meditation Resource as MC were crystallised forms of Mana and using one was better than absorbing Mana from the atmosphere. And Mana was the Energy that allowed one to grow stronger and improve in their realm. It was this Energy that made it possible for planet Earth to become what it is today. ¡­ City Lord James and his butler Alfred watched as the group left Small Town and headed deeper into the continent. The two who had been sweating for a few days now had happy expressions. ¡°Alfred, do you think I made the correct decision this time? After all, I allowed that monster into the Earthen Continent, I can''t help but worry.¡± asked James. ¡°Sire, I believe you made the correct decision. There''s nothing more important than preserving one''s life. If Sire chose violence then I''m absolutely certain that we''d already be in that monster''s stomach! Just how can someone have a gaze like that?! It''s not something humanly possible.¡± said Alfred in an old voice. ¡°Hahaha, there''s a lot of things that exist in this world that one may find impossible but you''re right. That gaze¡­ that''s not a gaze a human should possess. And to think we''ve had to endure it for three whole days, I couldn''t even sleep well.¡± said James. ¡°How fortunate you are Sire, I couldn''t even sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I felt like something was looking at me and I had to open them again. Fortunately that guy is finally gone, phew!¡± ¡°Alfred, do not speak of this matter to anyone and if your tongue does slip up, kill yourself immediately. That would be better than falling into the hands of that guy. Nolan¡­ just who are you?¡± ¡­ ¡°Master, what''s our first move now that all the preparations have been completed?¡± ¡°Wait a sec, let me check the map. Mhmm, we''re currently here and this trip will take us here, I got it. Our first move is information collecting so our first destination is here, buckle up, we''re going to B.I.N.C in Freed City!¡± Chapter 8: B.I.N.C Nolan and his group took a train to travel to their destination. The train didn''t look futuristic on the outside but was definitely futuristic on the inside. It looked small on the outside but once one entered, the space inside was huge. The seats were comfortable and the best leather was used on them. These seats could also move by themselves, and one didn''t need to walk around as these seats would take them where they wanted to go. There was also a mini restaurant, a sleeping area, a gaming area, gym area and all kinds of facilities. The train even had an isolation barrier in case someone wanted to talk about private stuff. This trip was also uneventful as other than going to the restaurant to eat, the group didn''t do anything else. Nolan and the group also saw many beautiful landscapes along the way, unfortunately Nolan didn''t get to see other races inside the train. ¡­ Two days later, the train finally arrived at their destiny but it was already dark outside. The group unboarded the train and followed the map that Lord James had gifted them. They were inside Freed City which was big and everything there was big. The buildings were big, the houses were big, the hovercrafts were also big. Along the way, Nolan saw people being accompanied by androids that looked no different from normal humans. The reason he could tell that they were actually machines was the fact that their bodies didn''t have any vitality. Surprisingly, the place wasn''t crowded at all, maybe it was because it was already dark. He also saw humans with animal ears like catgirls, dogmen, lizardmen and other types of mixed humans. These humans were called Demi-humans and weren''t ostracised by society and actually accepted and treated equally. The only people treated unequally all over the world were weak, untalented people, no one wanted to mingle with them. ¡­ Nolan and his group travelled for about thirty minutes before they reached B.I.N.C. On the big building made entirely of glass but inside couldn''t be seen, the name of this place was written in bold letters that had a certain effect on people. ¡®BEST INFORMATION NETWORK COMPANY!¡¯ In short, it was called B.I.N.C, there were people coming in and people going out. Some wore cloaks and disguises to hide their faces while others walked in the open without hiding themselves, Nolan and his entourage were one of those. They entered the building and upon entry, a small holographic screen with a young man appeared in front of them. ¡°Where do I pay, I want to be a Two Star VIP Member.¡± interrupted Nolan. Two minutes later, a person wearing a formal suit and a mask approached Nolan and invited him into his office. This was the agent that he was waiting for. Nolan followed the agent as they entered the elevator and went to the second floor. It was very quiet on the second floor and not as crowded as the ground floor. There was a long hallway with many offices and the masked man led Nolan into one of the offices. Inside the office, there was only a tablet and chairs. ¡°Greetings, I''m Masked Man 0034. I''ll be assisting you with becoming a VIP Member here and B.I.N.C, if you have a question, please feel free to ask.¡± ¡­ ¡°Congratulations Mr Nolan, you are now a Two Star VIP Member of our company. As a Two Star VIP you''re entitled to a twenty percent discount when purchasing information. You can now also access classified information. Your personal information will only be accessed by staff of the same or higher level and nobody else.¡± It took about ten minutes for Nolan to complete his subscription and Masked Man 0034 was now telling him about the perks of having such a status. ¡°I don''t necessarily care about that. I want information about the current world, its powers and influences, its enemies and owners. Everything about the world.¡± said Nolan. ¡°Since you''re a Two Star VIP Member, this information will be for free since it isn''t that valuable. So the world is¡­blah¡­ blah¡­blah¡­¡± The agent began to give Nolan all the information he needed. The information that he''d obtained from Zaza wasn''t completely accurate. The Zodiacs didn''t have complete ownership of over half of the Earthen Continent, instead, they were one of the peak powers of this continent. There were kingdoms, families, clans, guilds and sects who also ruled parts of not just the Earthen Continent but the world itself. Nolan also asked about the Recruitments Event and obtained more information than what Gege had given him. If one was over a hundred years old they couldn''t participate in this event. And only extremely talented people would be selected. After asking a few more important stuff, Nolan left the office with the agent accompanying him all the way to the exit. At the ground floor, Nolan saw a young man about eighteen years of age quickly rushing out of the building with his bodyguards. Nolan was intrigued by this young man and couldn''t help but ask the agent who he was. ¡°I''m sorry Mr Nolan but I cannot disclose the young man''s information since he''s a VIP Member far above me. All I know is that he''s Loid of the Roan Kingdom.¡± ¡°That''s all I needed to know.¡± said Nolan with a smile. He then left the building with his subordinates who had been patiently waiting for him and once out. They took a taxi to the best restaurant in town since Nolan was now hungry. ¡­ ¡°Master, did you get what you wanted?¡± asked Zaza. ¡°Hehe, I got more than I was expecting. Now, I can finally start planning my moves perfectly but we''ll talk about that after dinner.¡± Twenty minutes later, they reached their destination. It was a five star restaurant with only positive reviews. It was a restaurant called Ben''s Restaurant. Inside the restaurant, the air was fresh, the place was sparkling clean and all the tables and chairs were made from ashwood, a very high quality and expensive wood. This place had five floors and to reach these floors, one simply had to be rich. One simply had to show the bouncers their bank balance and they''d be allowed up. Nolan of course didn''t know about this but he did see the young man going up the stairs and decided to follow him. The bouncers were about to block his path when his blue eyes changed colour and became crimson red. ¡°Move!¡± Chapter 9: Love triangle The two bouncers were scared that they complied immediately and involuntarily moved to the sides. It couldn''t be helped though, they were just ordinary Nine Star Warriors who were there only for show. Such a situation had never before occurred since those who came here loved saving face so they''d never forced their way up. Also, everyone knew just how powerful the owner of this place was and no one dared to offend him. If Nolan knew that one simply had to show off their wealth to go up, he wouldn''t have done this as he didn''t like unnecessary trouble but he didn''t. They rushed up the stairs, following behind the young man with bodyguards. The young man didn''t stay on the first floor and continued up, Nolan also did the same. The young man walked all the way to the fifth and last floor. There, it was very quiet and peaceful, the tables were arranged neatly and this time, golden wood was used for furniture. Although there were diners there, they all kept quiet and just enjoyed their food. Soft music was being played and only if one focussed on it would they hear it and truly relax and enjoy hemselves. Nolan saw the young man sit at an empty table while his bodyguards stood behind him. Nolan also found a place to sit, Hedge, Edge, Zaza and Riri sat with him while the rest remained standing. There was a menu and small bell on the table. Nolan took the menu and looked at it but as soon as he opened it, his eyes widened in shock and awe. The cheapest dish here costed around Eleven million MC and the most expensive priced at Twenty million MC. Nolan didn''t throw a fit when he saw the prices but rang the bell and ordered something to eat. He ordered a meal called Smoked Warthog that costed Thirteen million MC. The one to take his order was a young man with an unassuming appearance. After he placed the order, he carefully studied the young man whom he followed here. This young man had extremely huge asymmetrical pitch black eyes, a small nose, mouth and ears. Grey skin and skinny body. He wore a huge black robe with long collars that covered most of his body and showed only his head. The young man kept looking or rather peeking at someone from time to time. ¡®Loid Roan is it?¡¯ thought Nolan to himself. He then gazed at the person whom Loid kept peeking at and it was a young lady. A beautiful young lady with long black hair, black eyes, pinkish white smooth skin. Her body similar to that of female athletes, not too big and not too small, just big enough where it needed to be. She wore a beautiful red dress with long sleeves and showed off her cleavage. ¡®Ah, I see, a femme fatale¡¯ While studying the young lady, he realised that this girl was actually peeking at someone else and her face would turn red everytime she looked at that person. ¡®A love triangle? Let me see who is it that''s making you blush so much.¡¯ Nolan suddenly found his vision blocked by someone. It was the waiter who had brought him his food. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. ¡®So quick!¡¯ The warthog took up all the space of the silver platter. Its meat had been cut into slices and placed around the platter in a creative way and only the head with an apple in its mouth hadn''t been touched. The food looked and smelled delicious that Nolan began dedicating. ¡°Boys and girl, let''s dig in!¡± he said. Gege and the others stood around the table and also began to eat with everyone. After one bite, the group couldn''t help take another, then another. They just kept biting, chewing and swallowing, even when they were full, they kept stuffing themselves with food. They only stopped when their stomachs bulged. Only Nolan who''s stomach was like a blackhole kept eating. He only felt full when he''d finished eating the warthog''s head which was super delicious. His stomach also had a little bulge which he rubbed in satisfaction. Now full, all the goblins fell asleep while Hedge and Edge sat in meditation position. Truth was that this food contained energy inside it, energy that was beneficial to the body after being digested. Since the goblins didn''t have Mediation Arts, they fell asleep. Meditation Arts were the keys one needed to grow stronger. They were like formulas that the body used to solve the problem of energy absorbed into the body. Once Mana was absorbed into the body, the Meditation Art would guide and direct the energy to where it needed to go without hurting the body. Depending on the quality of the Meditation Art, the pace of growing stronger would either be slow or fast. And the less flaws the Meditation Art had, the firmer the foundation one would have and the higher they''d be able to go in the future. For example, Nolan''s previous Meditation Art, it allowed him to devour other people''s Mana and help him grow stronger at a fast pace. But because it had many flaws, the energy that Nolan absorbed wasn''t pure and his Meditation Art also didn''t purify it unlike other Meditation Arts. This made him have a flawed foundation. Once he reached the Constellation Realm, Nolan felt that he''d never improve in strength ever again unless he started over. This was how important a flawless Meditation Art was. This was also why he wanted custom made Meditation Arts for the goblins. ¡®What was I doing again? Oh right, the mysterious third person of this love triangle.¡¯ Nolan then turned again to look at whom the girl was secretly peeking at but there was no one there. ¡®Where did he go?!¡¯ Then, Nolan realised that someone had joined the girl at her table. The person was wearing a robe that hid his appearance and only his eyes could be seen through the hoody. Nolan was very annoyed by this but the annoyance didn''t last long because the person removed the hoodie and showed their face. He had glistening golden hair, hair that seemed to be made up of the cosmos, extremely beautiful hair. Just looking at it made one feel like they were standing in a star system and appreciating its beauty. His black eyes were shaped like a star compass, deep and profound. His skin was fair and smooth with an indescribable glow to it. And between his eyebrows was a small star compass tattoo that gave the illusion that it was spinning. This man wasn''t handsome. This man was simply beautiful, he was the most beautiful person everyone here had ever seen. His aura was gentle but as vast as the galaxy. While everyone admired and even complimented the man''s beauty, Nolan was looking at something else. Nolan was even drooling as he looked at this man, his eyes glowed so brightly in their crimson red colour that the goblins woke up in fright. Hedge and Edge also stopped their meditation and looked at their master fearfully. ¡°Oh my god¡­ he looks so delicious¡­ I want to eat his head¡­no! His heart first¡­ what does his blood taste like¡­ gulp¡­ slurp¡­¡± said Nolan with hungry eyes and drooling mouth. If not for the food he just ate, he probably couldn''t have stopped himself from making a move. ¡°Everyone listen up, our plans have temporarily changed. What we''re going to do¡­ is hunt Him down!¡± Chapter 10: A deal. The beautiful man felt a fervent gaze directed at him but when he checked who it was that was looking, he didn''t see the person as the intense gaze only lasted for an instant. The beautiful man wondered just who it was who had such a gaze that made him feel uneasy because he hadn''t felt this feeling in a long time. On the other hand, Nolan quickly subdued his impulses and quickly looked away. He didn''t do this because he was afraid of the beautiful man, rather, he was afraid of the beautiful man running away before the hunt even began. Now that Nolan had calmed down, he stood up and walked towards Loid''s direction. The young man was currently fuming with anger and jealousy. His fists and teeth were clenched, his eyes were like that of a crazed person. ¡°Excuse me but can I join you.¡± said Nolan from afar. The reason he did this was so that the Loid''s bodyguards didn''t suddenly jump on him. Loid was about to refuse but Nolan continued speaking. ¡°I can help you get her and not just that, I can even create an opportunity for you to fuck her for a night.¡± Seeing Loid not responding, one of the guards was about to chase Nolan away when Loid made a gesture to the man. The man then returned to his position and acted as if nothing happened. Nolan then took a seat and calmly faced Loid. ¡°Who are you and what''s in it for you?¡± asked Loid. Nolan was surprised not by Loid''s question but by the fact that the young man spoke directly to this mind. ¡°Telepathy? Interesting. Let''s just say I''m the type of guy who loves the heat but can''t handle too much of it if you know what I mean.¡± answered Nolan. ¡°No. No I don''t know what you mean so speak in a language I can understand otherwise leave!¡± said Loid coldly. He was already in a bad mood and Nolan''s roundabout way of speaking annoyed him even more. ¡°I want to kill that guy but I''m afraid of whatever power is behind him. To kill him, I''m gonna need you to be my shield after the job is done. I don''t want to lay my head low and live like a rat. I want my freedom even after I''ve killed him.¡± ¡°Hahaha, you have quite useful eyes. As you''ve deduced, I''m from the Roan Kingdom and I can definitely protect you after the job is done but I have one condition, I want that man''s corpse after the job is done.¡± ¡°No can do! Absolutely no can do! You can take whatever is on his body or in his storage artifact but the body''s mine and I won''t trade it for anything.¡± shouted Nolan. ¡°Fine, you can keep the corpse but I want proof of the man''s death, physical proof! And I also want to know what exactly you plan to do with his corpse.¡± Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ¡°Deal. As for corpse, of course I''m going to eat it, what else do you think I''m gonna do with it?¡± ¡°Eat it?!¡± ¡°Yes. I don''t know if you''ve realised but that man looks very tasty and delicious.¡± Nolan''s eyes gleaned as he also drooled just thinking about him. Looking at Nolan''s eyes, Loid felt like he was in a sea of blood and within this sea, something was swimming around in circles but he couldn''t see what exactly it was and the moment he let his guard down, a massive mouth with rows of razor sharp teeth devoured him whole and he came back to reality. ¡°Aargh!!!¡± he screamed. His entire body was drenched in sweat and his face was pale. His extremely big eyes were full of dread as he looked at Nolan. ¡°You¡­ you¡­ what are you?!¡± asked Loid. ¡°A carnivore. A carnivore on the road to becoming an apex predator.¡± said Nolan nonchalantly. ¡°Let me give you a piece of advice, don''t probe into my mind or you might just go crazy, this is a friendly warning. The last time someone did that, their head exploded.¡± he continued. Loid suddenly felt that the person he was working with was far more dangerous than any person he''d met in his life. More dangerous than even his parents. He knew that if he wanted to work with Nolan, he had to calculate every step he took. ¡°And the girl. How do you plan on convincing her to sleep with me because she clearly has no interest in me. Are you going to drug her or something, if so then that won''t work, she can detect all kinds of poisons, even colourless, tasteless and ordourless one''s.¡± ¡°Oh her. Its quite simple actually. We''re going to kidnap her and then you''ll just fuck her, nothing to worry about.¡± ¡°What?! But what if she doesn''t want to sleep with me?¡± ¡°Are you an idiot? If she doesn''t want to then you''ll obviously fuck her by force. Haven''t you done that before?¡± said Nolan while looking at Loid like he was an idiot. ¡°You mean¡­ rape her?!¡± ¡°Yes. If you can''t have her heart, at least you''ll have her body, it''s better than nothing. Plus, courting girls is just too troublesome, especially those who don''t like you but lead you along. I''ve raped women plenty of times before and the experience¡­ out of this world.¡± he said while putting his fingers on his mouth and made a kiss sound. ¡®What the fuck have I gotten myself into? This dude is crazy!¡¯ thought Loid to himself. After a few minutes of thinking, Loid finally agreed but said that him and Nolan had to sign a Blood Contract. He took out an old parchment from his space ring and filled in the content of the deal then dropped some blood of his blood on it. Nolan had never seen this method before and was quite intrigued, he read the contract and saw that nothing was amiss and also dropped some of his blood on it. The parchment was then engulfed in flames and turned to ashes. ¡°I truly hope that we can have a long term cooperation and not stab each other in the back. Also, that punishment for anyone who breaches the contract is quite severe but I like that.¡± said Nolan. ¡°How do I contact you?¡± asked Loid. ¡°Give me your Star Watch Account, after I buy one for myself, I''ll contact you then.¡± answered Nolan. ¡°That might take a while. Here, use this one, I usually keep a spare just jn case something happens to the one I''m using. After you''ve created an account. Give me a holla.¡± said Loid as he gave Nolan a transparent watch as thin as a booklet. It looked similar to the tablet Lord James used to create their QRC''s. Nolan took it and pressed it on his left wrist where his QRC was and as soon as he did that, the watch released a green light that scanned his QRC and filled itself with necessary information. Nolan then answered some questions and in a few minutes, he was done. He then greeted Loid using the messaging app on the watch that had turned completely invisible. ¡°We shall meet again when I''ve completed my part of the promise.¡± Nolan then stood up and left. Loid looked at his back for a long time before he also chose to leave. ¡°Let''s go¡­ home!¡± Chapter 11: Probing Nolan watched as Loid left the place but he chose not to. He ordered a few drinks which costed a few hundred thousand MC but for what he was about to do, it was totally worth it. The goblins had already gone to sleep again and the twins were meditating in silence. Nolan enjoyed the drinks, he quite liked the feeling of intoxication, his thoughts becoming incoherent and his mind blurry. The reason why he loved getting drunk was because of how clear his thoughts would be and he would better understand himself. It''s often said that a drunk person tells no lies which to some extent was true. When drunk, whatever you saw or heard either about you or someone else, you''d approach the person who spoke about you or the subject of topic and confront them. This is why people with secrets, especially those who keep to themselves don''t like alcohol since it makes them vulnerable. As Nolan introspected himself, time flew by and after a few hours, the restaurant was almost empty. Only Nolan and his group and the beautiful man and the girl he was sitting with were left. Another hour passed and it was very late now. ¡°Greeting customer. I''m sorry to interrupt everyone''s good time but it''s already time for us to close the restaurant, please kindly vacate the premises. We''ll open again at eight o''clock in the morning.¡± said the ordinary waiter after appearing from nowhere. The beautiful man and the girl didn''t make things difficult for the young waiter and left peacefully. Nolan also woke up the goblins and the group left. Nolan was smiling the entire time and would sometimes giggle or laugh out loud. The group found this side of Nolan extremely comedic, especially when he reprimanded or slapped himself. Once everyone had left the restaurant, the doors were locked behind them and the lights turned off. ¡°Riri, which way?¡± asked Nolan. ¡°That way.¡± she answered. The group then increased their pace until they saw two people walking while holding hands not far from them. It was the beautiful man and the girl. ¡°Hey¡­ hey you¡­ wait up¡­ wait for me¡­ I just want to talk to you about something¡­ Hey!¡± said Nolan drunkenly as he ran after the couple. When he was close, he reached out his hand to grab the man''s shoulder. ¡°Wait up bro¡­¡± he said. When he was about to grab the man''s shoulder, the beautiful man grabbed him first without even looking back. He then turned around still holding Nolan''s wrist and sent a punch aimed at his face. Nolan tilted his neck to the side and the punch only grazed his cheek. Now,one would think that the beautiful man was overreacting for attacking someone who just wanted to chat but if one looked at Nolan''s hand that the beautiful man grabbed, they''d be able to see sharp nails that resembled claws. ¡°Hehe¡­ I guess my sneak attack failed.¡± said Nolan as he also grabbed the man''s hand that just missed his face. Nolan attacked again, this time executing a knee kick which landed squarely on the man''s stomach but he didn''t even flinch. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Nolan expression also changed because the force of his attack was absorbed and dispersed once it came into contact with the beautiful man or rather his clothes. The beautiful man then flung away Nolan''s hand that he''d grabbed hold of to create an opening. He then struck Nolan''s chest with a powerful punch. Dong! Nolan though wasn''t sent flying by this punch since he had held onto the other man''s arm and he quickly made a move, before the beautiful man could react. He held the other beautiful man''s arm and unleashed a flying double kick, aiming to rip the man''s arms off his body. [Skill: Mana Outburst!] The beautiful man used a skill to help him escape the danger. This skill compressed one''s Mana within their body and released it from all directions throughout the body. Nolan was sent flying a few meters back but he instantly appeared in front of the beautiful man. [Skill: Joints Severing!] Nolan aimed his sharp claws at the beautiful man''s joints and in a swift motion, had attacked all body joints. But Nolan wasn''t happy because there was no blood on his claws and no blood coming out from the man''s joints. Nolan''s attack that penetrated through the beautiful man''s defensive clothes but failed to penetrate through his skin, all that was help was white lines that quickly disappeared. ¡®Such a strong body!¡¯ But Nolan wasn''t one to give up that easily, unfortunately the split second that he was distracted, the beautiful man acted quickly. A powerful punch landed squarely on Nolan''s face and sent him flying, he crashed into a building but didn''t even leave cracks on it. The beautiful man didn''t continue to attack but stared at his fist with surprise. Nolan was feeling extremely dizzy and great pain on his face and back that he stopped attacking. Seeing an opportunity, the beautiful man quickly ran away with the girl and in just seconds, they''d already disappeared from sight. Nolan took a about a minute to recover and once he did, he only said one word. ¡°Riri.¡± ¡°I can''t track them. They''re already fled very far away so I can''t track them in a short period of time.¡± said Riri behind Nolan. ¡°Don''t worry, you''ve done enough. Let''s find a place to sleep. I didn''t expect such a beautiful man to know how to punch¡­ almost dislocated my jaw.¡± said Nolan while trying to stand up. ¡°Master, why did you suddenly attack that man. Didn''t you say that we had to be patient and careful in order not to scare him away.¡± asked Guga. ¡°What do you know?! Y''all don''t know anything! In order to successfully hunt your prey, you should first find out what they are capable of. What I did is called¡­ Probing.¡± ¡°Probing?¡± repeated Gege. ¡°No, prancing.¡± said Nolan sarcastically. Gege just kept quiet knowing that he''d said something stupid. ¡°And from this Probing, I obtained a lot of crucial information. Hunting that guy might not be so difficult afterall.¡± said Nolan while rubbing his cheek. ¡­ While Nolan and his group were looking for a place to stay, the beautiful man and the girl had run quite far. The beautiful man and the girl were standing atop a building. ¡°Who are you? Why did you send those guys after me?¡± said the beautiful man while choking the girl. ¡°I¡­ don''t¡­ know¡­ what¡­ your¡­ talking¡­ about¡­!¡± she said in great difficulty. ¡°Don''t lie to me! Why did he only attack me and leave you, plus, why didn''t you help me if you were not on his side.¡± he said. ¡°I''m¡­ innocent¡­ I don''t¡­ even¡­ know¡­ who¡­ he¡­ is¡­ I¡­ promise¡­ Please¡­ let¡­ go¡­ of¡­ me¡­ and¡­ let''s¡­ talk¡­ about¡­ this¡­¡± the girl''s face was turning blue from the lack of air. The beautiful man looked at the girl coldly for a while before finally letting go of her. The girl coughed hysterically while gasping for air but the man didn''t care in the slightest. He just gazed at the stars in the night sky. ¡°Crouching dragons and hidden tigers¡­ but grandpa, you didn''t tell me about vicious snakes and bloodthirsty demons. Listen here you bitch, I don''t want to see you ever again, if I do, I''ll kill you!¡± said the man as his body began to glow in starlight and disappeared right then and there. ¡°Wait¡­ don''t go!¡± shouted the girl with tears in her eyes. A small white snake coiled around her neck and hissed. ¡°Shut up! If not for your warning, I would have helped him! Stupid snake and your instincts! What do your instincts say, now that my future husband is gone?!¡± ~Hisssss~ Chapter 12: Combat Zone Loid who had also returned home was currently kneeling inside a massive room. There were no windows there, just tall metallic black walls and continually changed in shape. Loid didn''t know what kind of metal it was but it was very strong. A long black carpet with massive rune patterns was laid on the ground. The air was fresh and the Mana very dense and a tall throne made from the same black metal was erected there. On that throne was a person or rather an alien. He had huge big black eyes, taking up almost all the space of his face, two holes and a small mouth. He had a big triangular head, grey skin and the rest of his body couldn''t be seen. If Nolan were here, he''d recognise this person as the typical alien from old Earth sci-fi and fiction movies and series. He was wearing a shiny black coat with very long collars. Loid wasn''t alone here but with his bodyguards and all of them were kneeling. ¡°Greetings Lord Father, your son has returned home and seeks an audience.¡± said Loid respectfully. He could feel his father''s heavy gaze on him, the gaze of the King of the Roan Kingdom, Ro Roan. [Ah. So my most useless son has returned. I wonder what you came here for this time around. Money, toys or another chance as a Crown Prince Candidate perhaps?] spoke the man telepathically but unlike Loid''s, his was imbued with Force and power, making Loid almost lose consciousness. In fact, that was what he was aiming for but unexpectedly, this useless son of his hadn''t lost consciousness like he usually did. It obviously wasn''t the first time Loid had come here judging by his father''s words but the man always spoke telepathically with Loid and he''d faint every time. Loid knew the reason why his father did this, he simply didn''t like talking to him specifically. After enduring the mental stress without fainting, Loid smiled and even raised his head and looked up without his father''s permission. ¡°You misunderstand father. I didn''t come here for all those things, I only came here to prove a thought that''s been bugging my mind on my way here.¡± he said. [And what is your conclusion?] Ro asked. Loid was then enveloped by an invisible power and rose high up in the air until he was face to face with his father. ¡®Father''s Psychic Abilities?!¡¯ Loid was internally shocked because this was the first time something like this happened. It was also his first time in a long while seeing his father so up close. Loid directly made eye contact with his father and became dazed. Ro was unfazed by Loid''s actions and even seemed to enjoy them because for a split second, he actually smiled. Loid returned to his senses a few seconds later with his entire body drenched in sweat and his face pale. ¡°My conclusion is that my hypothesis was correct. That guy is indeed much more terrifying than you and mother!¡± said Loid with a smile so bright and genuine that Ro subconsciously pulled out his hand from under his shiny coat and stroked Loid''s cheek. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°My son¡­¡± this time Ro spoke with his mouth. A soft voice sounded in Loid''s ears, making him dazed once again as tears poured from his eyes. Loid seemed to be taken back to the past by this soft voice, unveiling old memories hidden deep in his mind. ¡°Father¡­¡± ¡­ Nolan woke up feeling fresh, the pain on his cheek long gone after a night''s rest. Yesterday night, they actually didn''t have to travel far to find a place to sleep. Apart from the expensive hotels, there were also guest houses around the area and Nolan rented two rooms for a night. He slept on the bed while everyone else slept on the floor. Riri got her own room and slept peacefully. Actually, Riri and Zaza were actually a married couple but since Nolan didn''t ask, they never brought it up. Also, unlike humans who enjoy each other''s company and love having sex, goblins didn''t do any of that. The only time Zaza could fuck Riri was when she was in heat and it is also the only time that her current flat chest and ass would grow bigger and gain a more feminine body and appearance. Currently, she looked no different from the other goblins. Nolan could tell her apart from the others only because she wore accessories made from bones, like her necklaces, bracelets, ankle laces and earrings. This was the same for the other female goblins. This was why goblins kidnapped human females and raped them. It was to quickly grow the goblin population since humans didn''t need to go into heat in order to reproduce. And once goblins could speak, their sexual desires were replaced with a great desire for strength and power unlike the weak goblins who could easily succumb to their sexual desires. After the group took quick showers, they were ready to welcome the new day with open arms. ¡°Hey Meghan, request a ride to the Combat Zone for me. Don''t forget to pay.¡± said Nolan to his Star Watch. He''d named his A.I after a famous female celebrity crush who was absolutely gorgeous, Meghan Gud. ¡­ A hovercar came to pick them up. The trip to Combat Zone took around two hours to get there which Nolan hadn''t expected. Not just that, Combat Zone was in the middle of the desert. A huge colosseum was built in the middle of the desert. Hovercrafts of all kinds were parked outside. The group ignored the fancy hovercrafts and just went inside the colosseum where it was like a battle arena. There was an audience that was going crazy while watching the fights from below. Hundreds and thousands of people filled the fighting stage, giving it their all. There was a huge gate blocking the participants from leaving the arena once they entered. As soon as they entered the colosseum, a holographic screen appeared in front of them and provided all relevant information about the Combat Zone. As its name suggested, this was a place for one to hone their combat skills and combat experience. It didn''t matter if you had neither because once you join, obtaining both combat skills and combat experience was only a matter of time. This place got only positive reviews by those who''d joined before and it was run by two people, brothers in fact, Kriss and Kross. ¡°Hegde, Edge. This is the place I''ve chosen for you to continue improving, don''t let me down. As you are currently, you''re completely useless to me since you absolutely don''t know how to fight or how to use your strength efficiently. Become number one in this place and only then will you be my sword and shield. But for now, stay here. Also, you only have two more years to improve, after that, you''ll spend most of your time fighting so don''t waste this opportunity or my money!¡± ¡°We won''t disappoint you!¡± ¡°I really hope you don''t because in two years, I want to do something big and I''m gonna need the two of you as my right and left hand! Now go and show them who''s boss!¡± Chapter 13: Blazing Forge Guild Nolan and his group stood in the middle of the street, awed by what they were seeing. An absolutely enormous snake that had coiled itself was currently looking at them with its mouth open. It was so massive that it could even topple mountains and overflow rivers. It exuded a powerful pressure to those who stopped and stared at it. Its entire body was made from blue garnet gems that exuded the absolute peak of luxury. Its eyes made from the largest to ever exist blood diamonds, its forked tongue that was laid on the marble floor was made from mulberry silk and acted as carpet. Inside the snake''s mouth were transparent doors made from tempered glass. The doors were sensory type to ensure that no one touched them and left stains on them. This was Serpent Mall, one of the twelve largest malls built by humans. The interior design of this mall was even more gorgeous. Designed like a coiled snake''s spine with escalators, more tempered glass and just gold. Everything that wasn''t a shop was painted gold. The snake''s spine and its escalators, elevators, balcony bars, and chandeliers, etc. Only the floors weren''t golden in colour but silver. With how massive this mall was, Nolan didn''t even know where to go but fortunately, with the Star Watch, one could download the map of the mall and not get lost. Following the map, the group began walking, sometimes taking escalators, sometimes walking, other times using the elevator. It definitely took time, effort and patience and finally they reached their destination. The group stood outside the shop looking at the items on display. The design, layout and display of this store was absolutely beautiful. Behind the tempered glass, a red battleaxe, sword and spear were displayed on the left hand side of the shop entrance. A bow, two short swords and a black dagger were displayed on the right hand side of the shop''s entrance. The shop''s location, the placement of the items and the weapons themselves created the best form of attraction both to weapon and non-weapon lovers. ¡®BLAZING FORGE GUILD¡¯ This was the shop''s name and just looking at it pulled one into a world of extreme heat where burly men sang while hammering smelted iron to create their crafts. ¡°We''re finally here. Let''s go in.¡± Nolan and his group entered the seemingly empty shop. This shop was huge, at least 200 000 square meters. All kinds of weapons were placed on the walls of the shop, some in corners and some in random places. All of these weapons were protected by glass and one could only look and not touch. A staff of the shop wearing formal attire quickly approaches the group. He seemed to suddenly appear from thin air. His shirt had an emblem of a burly man''s arms holding two hammers facing each other. ¡°Welcome to Blazing Forge Guild customers. You can address me as Staff #9999. Would you like an intro and background of the shop while you peruse the weapons we sell?¡± asked Staff #9999. It was only now that Nolan realised that the holographic screen hadn''t appeared after entering this shop which made him feel more welcomed here. No matter how convenient the holograms were, some customers preferred to be welcomed in person which showed the shop''s sincerity in doing business. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°Sure, but don''t make it too long,¡± said Nolan. The employee then nodded in excitement as he introduced the shop and the history of the Blazing Forge Guild. Turns out the Blazing Forge Guild was one of the oldest guilds to exist and one of the most powerful guilds in the world. It was founded back when humans were at war with the invaders and it was founded with the sole purpose of providing weapons to the heroes of Earth fighting valiantly on the frontlines. Later, when the war ended, the smithy was supposed to close down but the founders who were friends decided to not only continue forging but to grow the forge. They started recruiting anyone with forging talent, no matter how long and it was through this decision that the forge grew to what it was today. Over the centuries, they''d produced many talents who contributed to the growth of the forge, some whose names are etched in history books as the greatest blacksmiths to ever exist. Some become myths and legends. Talent was supported in the Blazing Forge Guild so no one recruited was treated badly or shunned but everyone supported each other. This support created the strongest bond between the blacksmiths. As for the shops, they had branches all over the world and the scope of their influence was hard to grasp. ¡°Does it really only take forging talent in order to be a part of the Blazing Forge Guild?¡± asked Nolan. He after all wasn''t a fool and could identify an opportunity when he saw one. Joining the Blazing Forge Guild would give him massive benefits and help him push forward plans he had previously put on the back of his mind. As for whether the information was true or not, only time would tell. ¡°Well, we''ll also start recruiting young blood for the guild once the Recruitments Event starts, there are no exceptions. But I did hear from my supervisor that people who can provide different and unique services can be hired under the right circumstances.¡± said Staff #9999 ¡°Different and unique services¡­ do I have that¡­¡± softly muttered Nolan. ¡°Don''t fret too much over it. You can think about what you''re good at while looking for the weapon you want to buy. By the way, what type of weapon is your choice, I don''t think you''ll find the weapon you want if you just look, this place is massive after all. Just tell me which weapon you prefer and I''ll take you there.¡± ¡°Spear. My preferred weapon is a spear. Do you have them?¡± said Nolan. Staff #9999 just laughed after hearing what Nolan asked. He must have forgotten where he was for him to ask such a stupid question. ¡°Please follow me. Don''t resist or there might be unforeseen dangers.¡± said Staff #9999 as he activated the teleportation formation on the floor. ¡­ Nolan was taken to another section of the shop, this section had the words ¡®Spear¡¯ written on the wall right above the locked doors. Staff #9999 took out a set of keys and chose a specific one which he used to open the locked door. ¡°Welcome to the Spear Hall. All kinds of spears can be found here, long, thin, sharp, heavy, light. You name it, we have it.¡± he said as he pushed the door wide open for the group to enter. ¡°My goodness¡­ this must be heaven!¡± exclaimed Nolan while looking at the nigh endless spears placed inside this room. They truly had all kinds of spears. Nolan didn''t look around as he''d done previously, instead, he closed his eyes and listened to his senses. If he was indecisive about something, he''d always let his senses lead him and this had become a habit. After a minute or so, he opened his eyes and started walking towards a certain place within the room. When he reached his location, it wasn''t the garbage bin where MC''s would pick up treasures on a pile of trash. He took the weapon off its shelf and studied carefully. ¡°Excellent choice dear customer. This is a spear that one of higher-ups forged. It''s said that the feathers of the Angel race were used to craft this masterpiece. Featherless Night is this spear''s name, valued at a hundred billion MC. Dear Customer, would you like to buy it?¡± Chapter 14: Death Space ¡°It truly is a masterpiece and I do have the intention of purchasing it but I''m currently low on funds. How long has it been here?¡± said Nolan with great longing for the Fatherless Night Spear. ¡°I can''t recall the exact date but I think it''s been more than ten years now. Many customers have shown great interest in this spear but it''s just too expensive. This is why it hasn''t been purchased for all these years.¡± ¡°Great! I''ll definitely come back for this spear, make sure to keep it in good condition for me.¡± ¡°No problem dear customer.¡± answered Staff #9999. ¡°I heard you talking about the Blazing Forge Guild being interested in young entrepreneurs and I happen to be one of those young and aspiring businessmen but with my background, it might be a little difficult.¡± ¡°Don''t worry dear customer. If your business proposal is able to satisfy the higher ups, all of your troubles will disappear. No matter which group it is, the Blazing Forge Guild fears no one.¡±said Staff #9999. ¡°Then let me ask you this, can the Blazing Forge Guild take on the Zodiacs?¡± asked Nolan. ¡°Although the Zodiacs have created a name for themselves and are quite prominent, I think our Blazing Forge Guild can handle them.¡± said Staff #9999 in a nonchalant tone. ¡°I don''t think you understand what I''m saying so let me make it clear. Can the Blazing Forge Guild handle all twelve Zodiac Families working together as a team? Can the Blazing Forge Guild handle the Twelve Zodiac Families who are willing to stake it all just to achieve their goal of killing me?¡± ¡°Uhm¡­ I actually don''t know. What kind of crime did you even commit to come to such a conclusion?¡± ¡°Don''t worry about the details, just save this spear for me because I''m coming for it. By the way, do you know where the Second Profession Association is?¡± ¡°Noble Association¡­ Just take your left once outside the store, walk for about¡­¡± Staff #9999 gave Nolan the directions he needed and watched them. While looking, he couldn''t help but wonder if Nolan was telling the truth about being wanted by the Zodiacs at all costs. ¡­ Standing in front of the Noble Association store, Nolan looked at the seemingly ordinary name written above the glass door and smiled. This store didn''t have any items or goods on display but it was completely crowded inside. There were many workers and receptionists standing behind their small offices which consisted of only two chairs, a desk, a computer and flowers. In one glance, Nolan could tell immediately that this store was anything but ordinary. It had a very aromatic and medicinal fragrance that blended perfectly with the environment. Behind the receptionists were closed doors made from strong metal. The receptionists had their desks placed parallel to each other with a great amount of space in between where a huge lobby was created for the customers to rest while waiting for their turns. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Nolan and his group were welcomed by s young female staff member wearing green robes with an emblem of a tree with different coloured branches. ¡°Welcome to Noble Association. A place where all Second Profession Talents wish to be a part of.¡± she said with a sweet smile but her voice and words were filled with arrogance. As she''d just said, Noble Association was an organisation of Second Profession Talents or SPT for short. This organisation was created for people with Alchemy, Blacksmith, Runesmith, Healers, Engineers and the like, basically those with the ability to create something using materials. This organisation was created for SPT who were being bullied for not being passionate about growing stronger but rather were passionate about their creations. At first this organisation was suppressed and had almost disbanded but with perseverance and luck, one of their founding members created an unprecedented weapon which caught everyone''s attention. An auction was then held and the person who obtained the weapon was so happy that he took this group under his wing for ten years. This group became stronger and stronger the more time passed until it became powerful enough to rival the Blazing Forge Guild. Im fact, in some areas, it was even more powerful than the Blazing Forge Guild and other organisation at the same level as it because all kinds of second professions existed on Earth and they were extremely respected due to how helpful they were to society. This caused those part of the Noble Association to behave extremely arrogantly since no one dared mess with them. ¡°Hello, how are you? I came here looking for an item that can seal space for a period of time no matter what. It should be capable of ignoring one''s realm or talents and seal them no matter what escape methods they have.¡± ¡°I''m good Sir, thank you for asking. So you want something that has to do with space¡­ then Sir, please go to the twentieth floor,you''ll find what you want there. Here it is only for pills and potions.¡± explained the lady. Nolan thanked her and took the elevator to the twentieth floor. The twentieth floor was surprisingly empty, there wasn''t a huge lobby or reception desks, just an old man sitting on a rocking chair with his eyes closed. When Nolan appeared, the old man opened his eyes which were very. Everything about the old man was normal. He had grey long hair and grey long beard, looking like an ancient martial arts master. ¡°Greetings dear customer, what can I help you with today?¡± said the old man. Nolan greeted back then explained the kind of item he was looking for. The old man kept muttering to himself, Nolan tried to listen but couldn''t hear what he was saying. Snap! The old man then snapped his fingers and all types of colourful spheres appeared in thin air, each sphere holding a treasure inside of it. ¡°This is the Space Lock Talisman, it can''t seal the space around you but once placed on your opponent''s forehead, they can''t teleport no matter what they do.¡± ¡°This is the Small World Ring, with it you can forcibly teleport both you and your opponent into the world inside the ring where you can then use the Space Lock function but you have to grab your opponent to teleport them.¡± ¡°This is the Space Rune Token, it can create a small domain where if someone has teleportation abilities, they''d still appear inside the domain until the token runs out of time.¡± ¡°This is the Death Space, a unique item that traps both you and your opponent in a domain and the only way to leave is when either one of you is dead.¡± The old man began introducing all kinds of treasures with the capability to lock space to Nolan. These were the types of treasures that Nolan was hearing about for the first time. In fact, he wasn''t even sure if they''d existed but to think they actually did quite literally shocked Nolan. ¡°Death Space, I want that, how much is it?¡± ¡°You have sharp eyes dear customer, this treasure only costs a measly One Trillion MC. The reason why it''s so cheap is because it can only work on Celestial Realm experts and below but I''m sure it''ll be very helpful to you.¡± ¡°Then please keep it safe for me because I''m going to buy it, just give me a week. After a week, you can sell it to whomever.¡± said Nolan as he walked back to the elevator. The old didn''t say anything until Nolan had completely disappeared from sight. He then sat on his rocking chair and mumbled to himself. ¡°... Broke customers are the worst¡­!¡± Chapter 15: Troy Nolan and his group directly left the store. The goblins just kept following Nolan without asking any questions or talk with anyone along the way, everything was handled by Nolan himself. Even now, they didn''t know where they were going but they didn''t ask and just followed behind him. This time, Nolan didn''t go to another store but instead stood on the glass balcony and looked at everyone below with focussed eyes. The goblins didn''t know who or what he was looking for but kept looking with him. This went on for hours and Nolan hadn''t moved a single inch from where he was standing. One of the goblins, Gege, finally couldn''t take it anymore and decided to speak out. ¡°My Lord, what exactly is it that you''re looking for here? We''ve been standing like this for hours now and I''m hungry.¡± ¡°Hahaha. I was wondering how long your silent game was going to last and it hasn''t been that long.¡± ¡°What game?¡± ¡°As for what I''m looking for, it''s actually a person and I seem to have found him. Let''s go and say hi, who knows, he might just go ahead and take us to where the money is.¡± said Nolan as he took the elevator. ¡­ On the first floor, a middle aged man sat lazily on the wooden bench while chewing on wild grass. He was holding flyers and his job seemed to be giving them out but no one seemed interested. At least all the people he''d approached so far had all rejected his requests and he''d been here since morning. ¡®At this rate, I''m going to leave empty handed yet again. The boss will not like this one bit. How the fuck do the others find them?!¡¯ The middle aged man was so deep in his thoughts that he didn''t even realise when someone sat beside him. ¡°Yo, you looking for someone¡­ special?¡± said the person sitting beside him. The middle aged man who was under stress was immediately enraged and was about to berate whoever it was that interrupted his thoughts but as soon as he saw the person, his words were stuck in his throat. ¡®Perfectly compressed muscles, neither too big nor too small, perfect posture, well hidden aura, a fearless gaze and finally, the desire to win. This is the person I''ve been looking for.¡¯ thought the middle aged man to himself. ¡°Your eyes are very sharp. You''re right, I am looking for someone special. Do you want to be that special person?¡± The middle aged man had the most welcoming smile as he chatted with the person beside him. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡°I think you already know the answer to your question. Give me what I want and you''ll get what you want. Who knows, your boss might even be impressed by my performance and give you a promotion.¡± said the person sitting beside him. ¡°How did you find me?¡± asked the middle aged man. ¡°That''s not important. What''s important is that we leave immediately and stop wasting time. Your time might not be worth anything but mine is worth money, loads of money so let''s go.¡± said the person as he stood up, the middle aged man stood up with him. The duo then began to walk not outside but towards the elevator. The duo was being followed by a small group of goblins. ¡°Hey, you haven''t even introduced yourself yet and what''s with the goblins? Your guards or something.¡± ¡°Something like that. As for my identity, you don''t have to worry about that. All you need to know is that we''re about to become famous and filthy rich.¡± said the person as they entered the elevator. The middle aged man then took out a small black key, revealed a hidden keyhole inside the elevator and inserted the black key in it. The elevator then began to descend at a fast speed. And not just that, it felt like they¡¯d just passed many floors. Only when the elevator reached the lowest floor did it stop and its doors opened automatically. When they stepped out, they were standing on tempered glass and below them was what looked like a fighting arena. There were many people around the arena who seemed to be spectating with unhinged excitement and adrenaline. Their body language spoke for itself and even though it was quiet outside the dome, the person could still read the mood. The glass was obviously sound proof. On the other side was another elevator but this time, two men stood guard in front of it. These two bouncers had savage looks that could easily intimidate a lot of people without even trying. The middle aged man walked in large and confident strides while the person followed behind him. ¡°Boys, I''ve finally found my lucky star, please quickly inform the boss about my return.¡± said the middle aged man. ¡°Troy, the boss is already waiting for you. She said to take you to her office as soon as you came back, now follow me.¡± said one of the bouncers as he led them inside the elevator. He then pressed one and the elevator descended. They were already deep underground but they were still going deeper. Tiing! The elevator doors opened and there was a small hallway with surveillance cameras. At the end of the hallway was a metallic door that had the same design as that the doors used for Safe''s. ¡°It''s me.¡± spoke the bouncer through the voice recognition and sound transmission device. The wheel on the door spun by itself and the metallic door slowly opened. The group then entered and the door closed behind them. Once inside, everything seemed to change. Everyone suddenly felt refreshed, relaxed and in a good mood. All their worries and problems seemed to vanish with the wind and all that was left was a sense of unhappiness welling from deep within themselves. ¡®Did we enter Buddha''s chambers or what? Why does my body feel so light and my mind clear of all distracting thoughts?¡± mumbled Zaza. Not far from them was a desk with all kinds of flowers placed on it as decorations, at the corners of this office were incense sticks that were burning, releasing a feint but fine fragrance. There was also a fan on the roof that blew a gentle on everyone. Behind the desk was a chair with someone sitting on it but the person had their back facing the group that just entered. ¡°Boss, I''ve brought Troy to you as instructed.¡± said the bouncer. ¡°Good. Now leave.¡± sounded a feminine voice. The bouncer bowed to the person then left. Chapter 16: Old Title The seat spun and revealed the figure sitting on it. It was a middle aged woman with slightly above average looks but her breasts were especially abundant and full. She looked very similar to Troy, a clear indication that the two were somehow blood related. Her eyes were sharp and full of intelligence. ¡°Didn''t I tell you to not wander outside? You''ve been gone for two days without a word, do you know how worried I was?!¡± roared the lady angrily, causing Troy to shrink his neck. ¡°I''m sorry for not calling you and I''m sorry for leaving without your permission. I promise it won''t happen again.¡± said Troy softly. ¡°Damn right it won''t happen again because you''re now on house arrest. If you dare set foot out of your room, I''ll chop off your legs!¡± said the woman. ¡°That''s not fair! I''m a fucking grown man, you can''t treat me like a baby and you can''t fucking keep me cooped up in this boring place! You taught me how to scout but you won''t allow me to use it!¡± shouted Troy. ¡°You better watch your tone when talking to me, young man or else¡­¡± ¡°Or else what?! What will you do? Scold me to death?¡± ¡­ This argument went on for an hour and whatever was used before to calm and relax everyone down didn''t seem to work on these two. They kept throwing insults and cusses on each other and everything seemed to calm down after an hour. It was then that the two remembered that they weren''t alone in the office but had guests. The woman whose name was Angy was extremely embarrassed by her actions in front of strangers. Troy on the other hand laughed awkwardly and introduced Nolan to his sister. ¡°Angy, allow me to introduce you to the person I personally scouted, I promise you won''t be disappointed. This is uhm¡­ uhh¡­¡± ¡°I''m Nolan, nice to meet you Angy.¡± ¡°So your name is Nolan, it doesn''t sound like anything special so why did you insist on not telling me?¡± said Troy with an annoyed look. Nolan ignored him and focused his eyes on Angy who was currently assessing him from top to bottom. ¡°Not bad. Not bad at all. So Troy, how did you find him?¡± asked Angy curiously. ¡°Well he didn''t find me, I found him. And I''m glad I did because it looks like I hit the jackpot. Are you by any chance the decision maker of this place?¡± asked Nolan. ¡°If you''re asking if I''m the Freed Underground Arena¡¯s boss then no but if you''re asking if I have enough power to negotiate on behalf of this establishment then yes. So, what kind of business proposal do you have for me?¡± answered Angy. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it This was the exact reason why Angy was given complete control over Freed Underground Arena. She was sharp, able to recognise a business opportunity at a single glance. She was smart, and could identify if the business was profitable or not. And finally, she was decisive in whatever she did which had netted her many clients and money over the years. ¡­ ¡°Don''t get too excited, I''m not an investor, nor am I a business and I don''t know anything about running a business. What I want to talk to you about is my percentage share of my earnings. 0.5% of the total bet earnings if I obtain 50 wins and zero losses. This is a great number but it''s not enough for me. I want 10% of the earnings from all streaming platforms that include my fights. In exchange, I''ll make you the most famous Underground Arena in the entire continent.¡± said Nolan calmly. ¡°Bwahahaha! Ahahahahaha, you''re funny! Hahaha!¡± Angy burst in laughter as though she''d heard the most hilarious in her life. Nolan on the other hand wasn''t laughing and remained stoic. Troy, who was sitting on the corner of the office, had to hold his breath to stop himself from laughing since it would be seen as rude to his sister''s guest. If he dared to laugh, Angy would surely skin him alive. ¡°Mr Nolan, it''s not that I''m trying to disrespect or demean you in any way, shape or form but your proposal is a complete joke. You have to understand that I''m running a business here, I have a quarter to reach and superiors to please. And let''s say I do put my faith in your¡­ proposal, how do I guarantee that you''ll deliver?¡± said Angy. ¡°I really do love working with smart people like you.¡± said Nolan with a slight smile on his face. ¡°I''m willing to give you my head as collateral damage.¡± offered Nolan. Angy didn''t answer immediately but instead gave Nolan a second and third look. Long dreadlocks, blue eyes, light skinned, handsome young man with full red lips. ¡°Out of all the black families I know of, I''ve never heard about you so why would I be interested in your head?¡± asked Angy. ¡°You don''t know about me because I''m mixed race. My father was white and my mother was black so I''d obviously use my father''s last name but that''s not important. What''s important is this and I hope it will remain between the two of us.¡± said Nolan as he passed a piece of paper to Angy. ¡°What''s this?¡± asked Angy as she took the piece of paper and checked what was written. ¡°My worth. Scan it with your Star Watch.¡± replied Nolan. Angy, although hesitant, did as Nolan had said and scanned whatever was written on the piece of paper. After a scan, she pressed the search button on the holographic keyboard. A few seconds later, there were results. She was nonchalant about what Nolan wanted to show her but once she saw it with her own eyes, her jaw dropped. Her eyes widened as her pupils constricted, her breath quickened seemingly from agitation. ¡°This¡­ this¡­ this can''t be real right?!¡± She said as her body was slightly shaking. Her pupils moved from left to right, an indication that she was reading something. She would sometimes steal a few glances at Nolan before continuing to read the information provided. ¡°Is this really true?! Did you really do all these things described here?!¡± ¡°Hahaha, it''s been so long that I barely remember my past deeds but I can assure you that everything written there is 99% true.¡± answered Nolan. Hearing his words of confirmation, Angy was shaken even more, she even started to sweat bullets. Her white face slowly turned pale. ¡°Don''t worry, I like smart people like you, plus, even if I wanted to do something to you, I''m too weak so relax. But I do want to give you a piece of advice that I think would be very useful to you; ¡®Looks can be deceiving.¡¯ never forget that.¡± ¡­ An hour later, only Angy and Troy remained in the office, Nolan had gone out to prepare for his first match and debut in Freed Underground Arena. ¡°Big Sis, what exactly did he show you that got you so agitated and afraid?¡± asked Troy curiously. ¡°I''m not allowed to say but I will give you one of the titles he once went by once upon a time.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Hostis¡­ humani¡­. generis¡­¡± Chapter 17: Elimination Chamber [LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, GAMBLERS, TRADERS, MONEY SPENDERS, IT''S ABOUT THAT TIME! NO MORE CHALLENGES, IT''S NOW TIME FOOOOORRRRR¡­ THE ELIMINATION CHAMBERRRR!!!] [HOOOOO!!!] [YEAHHHHH!!!!] [LET''S GOOO!!!] The crowd went wild as they listened to the man in suit standing alone in the middle of the arena. Freed Underground Arena was built to house tens of millions of people and it was always overcrowded. Some people even slept here while others conducted their illegal businesses here like selling drugs, prostitution and even human trafficking. This was also one of the most famous gambling dens where only the best gambling game existed. Underground fights! [NOW, IT''S TIME FOR THE RULES AND I''LL START WITH THE AUDIENCE. FOR THOSE WHO DON''T KNOW, EVERYONE IS GIVEN EXACTLY THIRTY SECONDS TO PLACE THEIR BETS BEFORE THE MATCH COMMENCES! FIGHTS ARE NOT ALLOWED OUTSIDE THE RING! NO REFUNDS AND DEFINITELY NO ROBBERIES! NOW, FOR THE PARTICIPANTS, RULE IS¡­ THERE ARE NO RULES!!!] [HOOOOO!!!] [YEAHHHHH!!!!] [LET''S GOOO!!!] [A minute ladies and gentlemen, I just received news that there''s been a change in the rules. Only the last man standing will be given a chance to directly challenge the first Floor Master. There won''t be other battles other than this one!] said the host. The crowd didn''t quite understand why the upper echelon had made this rule but they were excited for the Elimination Chamber since that''s where most deaths occur. The host stood in the middle of the arena and watched as it separated into three sections. Two of these sections floated in the air and became two more battle stages. The ground floor was the battle stage for Warrior Realm fighters, the second battle stage was a fighting arena for Constellation Realm fighters and the last stage was the battle arena for Constellation Realm fighters. [LET THE GAMES¡­.. BEGIIIIIIIN!!!!] ¡­ The prison chamber doors where participants were on standby slowly opened, making the underground fighting arena boil in excitement. As soon as the doors opened, the participants rushed to their respective stages. And as soon as they entered the battle stage, they immediately attacked whoever was on sight. For each stage, there were at least a thousand participants, mixed between humans, demi-humans and non-human. Once everyone had entered their respective battle stage, massive magic formation appeared on each stage with a glow as a transparent barrier engulfed each stage. This ensured that the participants wouldn''t escape and also protected the spectators from the shockwaves of the fights as well as outside interferences. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Three live broadcasts then appeared on three big screens that were extremely clear and audible. Many of the audience were interested in the fight between Celestial Realm experts, some were interested in the Constellation Realm fighters but none were interested in the fight between Star Warriors. Hidden among the Star Warriors was a man wearing a pteruges black skirt, bare chested and wore an oni mask. He held two short swords as he navigated his way through the battle stage. His eyes moved around until they seemed to land on his target. It was a two metres tall, pointed ears, green skinned muscular monster, his tusks protruding from his mouth like canine teeth and its long brown hair braided neatly, showing its ugly appearance to the world. This monster destroyed everything that dared to approach it with its equally massive battle hammer. ¡®An orc? You shall be my first target!¡¯ The oni masked man then rushed in the direction of the orc and quickly closed the distance between them. Whoosh! The battle hammer released a ¡®whoosh¡¯ sound as it barely missed the masked man who had dodged in time. The masked man then jumped towards the orc''s face with his short swords aiming for the orc¡¯s eyes. The orc was about to dodge when something unexpected happened. The masked man said one word and the orc froze in place. ¡°Boo!¡± Puchi! The two short swords pierced the orc''s eyes all the way to its brain and it died instantly but the man wasn''t finished with the orc. He severed its head and bathed in the green orc''s blood spraying from its neck. He enjoyed the bloodbath for about ten seconds before shifting his eyes to another target. ¡®There!¡¯ This time his target was a two and a half meters tall fatty with muscular arms. He wore a balaclava that hid his appearance, two aprons tied in such a way that they hid his private parts. His enormous stomach danced around as he moved. This man was holding two battle axes that cut through all his opponents. Rushing to the big bellied fatty, he dodged and ducked other people''s attacks. Feeling a gaze fast approaching, the fatty turned around only to see an ant rushing towards him with a crazed eyes. Yes, in the eyes of the fatty, the oni masked man was as ant due to his size. The fatty not wanting to waste time on such a weak opponent, threw one of his battle axes at the masked man. The battle axe as though teleported, appeared right in the masked man''s face. The masked man tilted his body to the side and in slow motion, watched the battle axe spin past him. Before it could fly off into the distance, the masked man moved at extreme speed and grabbed at the axe''s handle. Then, his muscles contracted as he spun with the battle axe like a propeller and even rose up in the air. He rose to a height so great that he was close to the second battle stage. He was holding the gigantic battle axe that was almost twice his size as though it weighed only a few grams. The attention of the crowd was forcefully pulled towards him since he was literally floating just below the second battle stage. Looking coldly at the fatty, the masked man began to descend. Since the only force acting on him now was the force of gravity, his velocity increased by leaps and bounds that in just a second or two, he had covered half the distance. [Hurricane Axe Slash!] The fatty placed his other battle axe above his head to block the attack but upon contacted with the attack, his battle axe shattered to pieces and the attack from the masked continued towards him. ¡°No¡­!!!¡± BOOOOM!!!! The axe cut through him like a hot knight cutting through butter. The battle axe even collided with the floor which released the explosive sound. The masked man stood in front of the fatty and waited. The fatty stood for a few seconds before he slowly split into two equal halves that then fell to the floor with a bang. Blood then splashed from his sliced corpse and landed on the masked man who stared at it without any emotions. The crowd immediately went crazy by what they had just seen. It was beautiful, it was exciting, it was¡­ everything they wanted to see. ¡°Holy shit! Who''s that masked man!¡± ¡°Wow, did you sse how high he jumped? Amazing!¡± ¡°Yeah, especially that pose of him looking down on The Butcher while aiming the axe at him!¡± Chapter 18: Bloodbath! ¡°Holy Shit! He not only killed The Butcher but also Hammer Head!¡± ¡°What?! Are you serious?!¡± ¡°Hammer Head was taken out in one strike! A few seconds and one strike! Who the fuck is this guy?!¡± ¡°Bloodbath¡­ he calls himself Bloodbath!¡± Looking at the masked man easily take out The Butcher, the spectators became so interested in Bloodbath that they went to check his previous battles and his identity. They were shocked to see only his name and his current star rank which was a Ninth Star Warrior. ¡°How does he take out opponents on the same level as him as if they are chickens?!¡± ¡°And why do his opponents freeze every time he says ¡®Boo¡¯?¡± ¡°I don''t know but let''s keep on watching, maybe he''ll show us something interesting again.¡± ¡­ The crowd was going crazy over the masked man called Bloodbath, at least those who wanted to see something new went crazy. On the other hand, Bloodbath was looking for another target to eliminate and it didn''t take long to do so. It was a troll, a long and skinny creature, big mouth with razor sharp teeth, big nose but extremely small eyes, so small they were almost nonexistent like a mole''s eyes. The troll was holding a club while facing off against a fearsome opponent. It was a man with a bald head with tattoos drawn on it, a braided ginger coloured beard, not tall but very muscular. This man was a Viking and he was using a silver sword as his weapon. The troll and the viking were exchanging blows when suddenly a figure appeared above the and stabbed his eyes. KRAAAAA!!! It screamed in pain and agony of having its eyes stabbed and shook its face to try and shake off the one inflicting this pain but to avail. It then decided to grab whatever was stabbing it, it was then that Bloodbath pulled out his short swords and retreated. The viking was about to rebuke Bloodbath for stealing his opponent but once he made eye contact with the masked man, he chose to keep his mouth shut and disappeared into the crowd. Bloodbath didn''t waste much of his attention on the viking as the troll attacked him with its club. ¡®I stabbed its eyes so how can it pinpoint my location?¡¯ thought Bloodbath as he dodged the continuous attacks from the troll. As the troll attacked, he noticed that its eyes were regenerating and almost completely healed. ¡®What the¡­¡± Bloodbath was shocked by such a powerful regenerative ability that he was jealous of it. ¡®If I had such an ability¡­¡¯ thought Bloody but he didn''t dwell on those thoughts since he had to kill this monster. He moved at such an incredible speed that the moment he moved, the troll lost sight of him. The troll then felt its achilles tendons being severed, causing it so much pain it fell on its. Bloodbath then jumped its back and severed its spinal cord joints, completely paralyzing it before finishing off the job by separating its head from its body. All of this happened in under a minute. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°Wow, this Bloodbath guy has rich combat experience! He''s probably from the Combat Zone, only someone like them can pull off something like this!¡± ¡°You''re wrong, he''s not from the Combat Zone. Although those who graduate from the Combat Zone have great combat experience, they lack the sharpness, decisiveness and viciousness that Bloodbath has. Seeing the troll''s regenerative capabilities, he immediately went for its spinal cord which, once damaged, would completely immobilise the opponent before going for the death blow. This man is completely on a different level.¡± spoke an old man who had been watching Bloodbath from start to finish. ¡°Amazing! Old man, Bloodbath is amazing right?!¡± ¡°Yes, but that''s not enough to take out the troll. There''s a reason why these guys are so hard to deal with.¡± said the old man. ¡­ Bloodbath who was standing between the neck and severed head of the troll was waiting for blood to bathe in but nothing happened. Instead, he felt danger approaching from above and knew he couldn''t dodge in time so he blocked whatever attack coming for him with his short swords. Clang! A heavy club collided with his short swords, causing sparks to fly and one of his knees to touch the floor due to how heavy the club actually was. Using all his strength, he flung the club upwards, making the user lose their grip of their weapon as it flew away. Bloodbath then turned around to see exactly who it was that had attacked him and his eyes opened wide seeing the headless troll body moving on its own. A head slowly growing from its severed neck. ¡®How fucking broken this thing is!¡¯ he thought to himself. Since its weapon flew away, the troll used his hands to attack Bloodbath. It sent palm strikes after palm strikes like it was killing a cockroach. What Bloodbath didn''t get was how the troll was able to pinpoint his location without a head. While dodging, Bloodbath was also inflicting wounds on it which were quickly healing but he didn''t give up and kept on attacking while dodging. Fortunately the troll was lacking in speed and intelligence otherwise this battle could have been more difficult for Bloodbath. This went on for about three minutes until Bloodbath realised something. ¡®If external injuries DON''T work on it, what about internal ones?!¡¯ when he had this thought, he immediately executed it. He attacked the troll head on, closing the distance between the two, by this time, the troll had completely grown a new head but Bloodbath didn''t care. With the distance between them closing, Bloodbath cleanly cut open the troll''s belly and entered it as quickly as he could. Since it was a clean cut, the wound only took a few seconds to heal. The troll panicked when Bloodbath entered its body and the wound healed behind him. It scratched and clawed at its stomach to try and pull out Bloodbath but it didn''t have the resolve to cut open its own stomach even though it knew the wound wasn''t fatal. It was like how one can''t hurt themselves when intentionally biting their tongue. Inside the troll''s stomach, Bloodbath cut everything in sight as he navigated his way to its heart which wasn''t very far. Once he located the heart, Bloodbath was speechless to see the troll''s heart which looked like a brain. He had never seen something like this before but it didn''t stop him from chopping it to pieces and storing them away. With its heart destroyed, the troll immediately stopped moving and fell heavily on the floor and everything became calm. The troll was dead but there was no sight of Bloodbath. The spectators watching waited in anticipation for Bloodbath to appear. The troll''s stomach moved as if there was a parasite moving around its stomach and was now ready to leave the host. A short sword cut a long line through the troll''s stomach and Bloodbath appeared. He didn''t just make an entrance, he made an entrance in style. Body covered in sticky fluids, arms that were holding the short swords were wide open and he was roaring as he appeared. ¡°HAAAHHH!!!¡± The crowd that had been paying close attention to Bloodbath went crazy at the sight of Bloodbath appearing like a well oiled killing machine. The crowd shouted his name in joy and happiness. ¡°BLOODBATH!¡± ¡°BLOODBATH!¡± ¡°BLOODBATH!¡± ¡°BLOODBATH!¡± Chapter 19: Carnage With the defeat of the troll, the audience went crazy to a point where they even forgot about watching the other fights. All their focus was on Bloodbath and his fascinating fighting style. ¡­ ¡°Grandpa, grandpa, look. Look how cool this guy is. He''s trending on all social media platforms.¡± a young girl said as she showed her grandpa a video of Bloodbath using her Star Watch. Her grandpa sat on his wheelchair with his eyes closed but with the pestering of her granddaughter, he opened her eyes to see what she was so enthusiastic about. ¡°Okay, okay, let grandpa see what''s gotten you so excited.¡± said the old man as he watched the three minute video. The video was already edited to only show Bloodbath''s fight scenes. The grandpa at first was uninterested but the more he watched, the more engrossed he became. ¡°Such reaction speed¡­ such battle IQ¡­ is he skilled in both axes and short swords¡­ such decisiveness¡­¡± commented the old man. ¡°Who is this person?¡± asked the grandpa after he finished watching the video. ¡°He calls himself Bloodbath and it''s his first time appearing in underground fights. Apart from this, there''s no other information about him.¡± answered his granddaughter. ¡°Such an interesting man. Come, let''s continue watching, maybe he''ll show us more interesting stuff.¡± ¡­ ¡°Ey yo bro, did you see that trending dude on Instragram and Fritter?¡± ¡°Bro, that guy''s cold! If he hadn''t already called himself Bloodbath, I would''ve called him Giant Slayer since he''s taken out big guys!¡± ¡°Me too. I wonder what expression Leo would make if we showed him this video, he''s a battle freak after all.¡± ¡°Bro, that''s a fucking good idea! Let''s show it to him, remember to turn on the recording function on your Star Watch hehe.¡± ¡­ ¡°AAAHHH!!!¡± ¡°Cindy, what''s wrong?!¡± said a person as he came crashing into the screaming girl''s room. ¡°OMG! Jason, check this guy out. He''s so ruthless and cool, look!¡± said the girl named Cindy as she showed Jason Bloodbath''s video. ¡°He''s alright.¡± ¡°He''s amazing! I think I''m in love! I wonder what he looks like under that mask. Does he have a girlfriend? Does he love me? What kind of person is he?¡± ¡°I think you''re getting a little carried away. If you want a boyfriend, shouldn''t I be your first option, plus, I can do better than him.¡± ¡°Hahaha, you''re just jealous. And Jason, I know you love me and I love you too.¡±If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Really?!¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Then¡­¡± ¡°Of course I love you, you''re my best friend after all. Besties forever!¡± ¡­ In just a few minutes after his appearance, Bloodbath became an Intanet sensation and was trending everywhere. Everyone was glued to their holographic screens as they watched Bloodbath kill his opponents. What they loved most about him was him bathing in blood after killing his opponents which was exciting and thrilling to watch. ¡­ Although he was currently a hot topic on the Intanet, Bloodbath didn''t know about that and even if he did, he wouldn''t be surprised because his performance was just so eye-catching. What he was focussing on right now was the participants who had stopped fighting and were all looking at him warily. Usually, the participants didn''t kill each other but instead severely wounded one another but this Bloodbath wasn''t going according to the script and was actually butchering them without a moment''s hesitation. Bloodbath could see it in their eyes that many were considering forfeiting the match and coming to fight tomorrow but Bloodbath didn''t want that. He hadn''t had enough of bathing in the blood of his opponents which was exhilarating to him so the show had to go on. The participants slowly retreated from him in a cautious and careful manner and once they turned around, dashed towards the barrier to escape but unfortunately it was already too late. With crimson red eyes that were filled with excitement and bloodlust, Bloodbath did something the participants as well as some spectators had never seen before. [Killing Aura!] A crimson energy in a form of gas burst out from his body like an explosion and almost instantly engulfed the battle stage he was in. The crimson energy was thick and heavy but also spread really fast. Because the barrier was spherical, when the crimson fog energy engulfed the arena, the barrier contained this energy within it which caused it to look like a red marble from an outside view. What was happening inside the barrier couldn''t be seen by the audience. Fortunately, the crimson fog energy only lasted for about a minute before it was absorbed back into Bloodbath''s body but he still left some to permeate the air. Within the barrier, a strong stench of blood filled the air and all the participants remained motionless without moving a muscle. Bloodbath walked towards the centre of the stage. This was another cool scene captured on camera, while everyone remained frozen, only he was moving around the stage as if it was his playground. When he reached the centre of the stage, he raised his hands above his head and spoke while letting go of his two short swords. [LET THERE BE¡­ CARNAGE!!!] he said. As soon as he said that, his two short swords landed on the floor with a clanking sound and it was also at that moment the participants regained their locomotion. Surprisingly, they didn''t move towards the barrier but towards each other. Their pupils were crimson red without a hint of intelligence inside them, like they''d gone berserk. Blood vessels inside the eyes coloured the sclera completely blood red like their entire being was being fueled by fury. Injured participants weren''t taken out of the arena but remained inside even though some had fainted due to severe injuries and even they weren''t spared from the red fog''s effects. They opened their eyes which were completely coloured in blood red. All the participants then began fighting again but this time, they were more ruthless with their attacks, not caring a bit about their lives and were only driven by the urge to kill¡­ and kill they did. The participants killed each other in the most gruesome ways possible! Pulling out one''s intestines, stabbing continuously, decapitation, mutilation, etc. Blood painted the floor red as corpses lay there. [HAHAHA! KILL! KILL! KILLLL!!!] laughed Bloodbath evilly as he lay face up on the bloodied floor and did sweeping motions with arms and legs, exactly the same as when children play in the snow to make snow angels. In this scenario, he was trying to make a blood angel. This time, the audience didn''t go crazy in excitement but remained silent. This was their first time seeing such a blood cuddling scene. Hundreds of corpses were littered on the floor and the number was still growing because not all participants had died. Some were complete, some incomplete. The sound of laughter resounded in their ears, the laughter of genuine joy and happiness like a child having fun. The audience had the same question in their minds. [What''s Bloodbath''s real identity?!] Chapter 20: Intent Concept While everyone was wondering who exactly Bloodbath was, a few individuals were stumped by a completely different question, like the old man in a wheelchair and his granddaughter. ¡°Grandpa, what was that?¡± asked the granddaughter. ¡°I don''t know¡­ but if I were to take a guess, I think it was Killing Aura but¡­¡± ¡°But what?¡± ¡°It''s impossible or rather I''ve never seen someone release Killing Aura like that. The way Killing Aura works is that once one releases it, it envelops the body as a form of deterrence, a danger signal or anything to ward off pests. Then comes Killing Intent, it''s where the Killing Aura is condensed into a liquid and can be imbued onto a physical object like weapons. Some people imbue it on their eyes to inflict Soul Damage to those who make eye contact with them. After Killing Intent comes Killing Energy, it''s the crystallisation of Killing Intent and it''s fused with either the heart or the Soul, it depends on the user. With Killing Energy, you can make a person go crazy with but a mere gaze, in its extreme, people can die by simply making eye contact with you. And finally there is the Killing Concept, I don''t know much about it but it''s the fusion of Killing Aura, Killing Intent and Killing Energy. With Killing Concept, it''s rumoured that you can suppress Souls or even enslave them, some say you can cause someone Meditation Deviation and others say most mental attacks like Soul/ Mind Reading, illusions and Body Possessions don''t work. Once someone tries to invade your Soul, their head will explode. All of these things combined are called the Four Phases of Intent Concept and it doesn''t only apply to killing but also other concepts like burning, freezing, weapons, etc.¡± ¡°Grandpa, you''ve spoken so much but still didn''t answer the question. Why is Bloodbath''s Killing Aura different? And what exactly did he do?¡± said the granddaughter. ¡°Oh that. The reason why I said I don''t know is because Bloodbath''s Killing Aura is too thick like a cloud, not just that. He can also release it to his surroundings which doesn''t make sense and he even used it to make everyone around him mindless killing machines that follow his orders. This should have been something possible only if he was using Killing Energy or Killing Concept. It''s either the information gathered is wrong or there''s more to Bloodbath than meets the eye.¡± ¡°Amazing!¡± ¡­ The few people who were stumped by the same question came to a similar conclusion, Bloodbath used Killing Aura but in a more diverse and broken manner. They even wondered how many lives Bloodbath took to even accumulate such thick Killing Aura and they came to the conclusion that he killed people because there were only two methods to obtain Killing Aura and accumulate. The first method which was simple and direct was the killing method. The more people you kill, the stronger and thicker your Killing Aura. The second method needed one to obtain Killing Aura and accumulate it was to comprehend it which was extremely difficult and those who could do it were few and in between.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. These two methods although reaching the same path had competent different benefits. For the first method, it emphasised on quantity while the second one emphasised on quality. A purer Killing Aura was much more powerful and more potent than an impure Killing Aura. At the same time, the more Killing Aura one had, the faster they could improve in the Four Phases of Intent Concept so quantity gave faster improvements. ¡­ Angy and Troy watched from within Angy''s office which had a hidden window that could camouflage itself as part of the wall. They''d watched Bloodbath''s matches from start to finish. Seeing Bloodbath''s performance, Troy didn''t know whether to be happy or else because he knew Bloodbath''s real identity. Angy was in the same boat as him. Her underground arena was trending on all platforms as Nolan had promised. They''d also had a massive increase in views which in turn increased the money the place was making but she was neither happy nor sad. Just then, she received a call from the Star Watch and quickly answered it. ¡°Greetings boss, I hope you''re doing well today.¡± said Angy with an extremely respectful expression as she looked at the person on the holographic screen. He couldn''t be seen clearly not because of the camera quality but because he was in a dark space so his features were hidden by the darkness. [Fret not, I''m in a good mood today. Firstly, I''m very impressed by how you''ve been handling Freed Underground Arena over the years. And this Bloodbath that you recruited, good job. Tell me about him.] said the man on the holographic screen with a deep voice. Angy then told the man about the deal she made with Nolan but didn''t disclose the information that Nolan had written on paper but did tell the man about Nolan''s real name and how he found them. [Very good. For your hard work, I''m gonna give you three options. First option is a promotion for you and a job for your brother. Second option is that your brother receives full training from headquarters and third option, assistance in advancing to the next Star Realm. After choosing, you can redeem your reward anytime you want.] Hearing her boss''s words, Angy breath quickened, not just hers but Troy''s too. Any one of these rewards was a great opportunity for Angy. Angy was so overwhelmed by this generosity that she didn''t know what to choose so she forcefully calmed herself down. ¡°I''d like to have a few days to think about my reward carefully. Thank you boss for your generosity.¡± [You deserve it. By the way, if you can manage to make this Bloodbath sign a lifetime contract with us then you can even receive all three rewards at the same time. Work hard, I see great potential in you.] said the man as he ended the call. Hearing the man''s words, Angy almost fainted from the shock of what she just heard. Any one of these opportunities would allow anyone to literally ascend to the peak in a single step, even a pig could become a powerhouse with these opportunities. Troy was also ecstatic about this news but he still gave his sister words of caution because greed¡­ sometimes fucked things up. ¡°Big Sis, don''t be rash to choose. Although the benefits are enticing to a point of drooling, don''t forget who we''re dealing with here.¡± he said. Looking down from her window, Angy could see a man with a mask playing in blood as though it was a swimming pool with corpses all around him. Just this sight alone was enough to calm her greed and pull her back to reality. ¡°Thank you.¡± she said. ¡°Don''t worry about it, I''m just looking out for you, you''re the only family I have after all.¡± ¡°I never expected that even HQ would be interested in him. Do you think that he''d want to work with us long term?¡± she asked. ¡°I don''t know. He seems like the type who values freedom¡­¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± ¡°But he also seems like someone who wouldn''t mind being under someone else as long as it aligns with his goals and is beneficial to his future. Just give him an offer he can''t refuse and let''s see how he responds. The real question here is, do you want to work with him? Surely you can tell that even among monsters¡­ he''s on a whole different level.¡± Chapter 21: Black fog Bloodbath didn''t know that his actions had caused a huge commotion in the world as he was in his own fantasy world. With the strong stench of blood, Bloodbath slowly became intoxicated and lost himself in the feeling of the world slowing down. He lay down on the cold snow and decided to create snow angels. What Bloodbath didn''t know was that he was actually hallucinating from the intoxication. ¡°It''s been so long since I''ve eaten snow and I''ve forgotten what it tastes like. Let me have a few mouthfuls of it.¡± said Bloodbath to himself as he removed his mask. What he didn''t know though was that he had actually just removed the mask that kept his identity hidden. Long dreadlocks unfurled themselves after he took off his mask. The audience watched with wide open eyes, they wanted to see what Bloodbath looked like without his mask but they were disappointed to see a face covered in coagulated blood. With this, Bloodbath''s identity was safe for now. The audience, especially Angy, heaved a sigh of relief when Bloodbath''s identity wasn''t uncovered but she knew that she had to do something before anything bad happened. The audience wondered what Bloodbath was planning to do but were shocked to see him suddenly scoop up a handful of blood and drink it. Some who couldn''t stand this sight threw up immediately. They were disgusted by Bloodbath''s actions that those watching it live quickly turned off all social media platforms. ¡°I love snow¡­¡± said Bloodbath softly but everyone heard him loud and clear. ¡°Did he perhaps¡­ take drugs or anything like that could mess up his mind? I don''t think a grown man would ever say such words when sober.¡± After taking the first sip, he took another sip, then another one, and another until he just buried his head into the blood pool and drank the blood in mouthfuls. As he did so, his eyes glowed brighter and brighter in a crimson light. His Killing Aura burst forth like a tsunami and engulfed the entire spherical barrier and blocked everyone''s sight of what was happening inside the barrier. The red fog was so concentrated that it was slowly turning black. This process was completed in about ten minutes, the red fog was so concentrated it now looked black. The matches of Constellation Realm fighters and Celestial Realm experts hadn''t ended but no one seemed to care about them. Those watching using their Star Watches and those watching from their seats inside the underground arena had their eyes glued on the first stage. Even though they didn''t see anything, they waited patiently. Everyone had a feeling that something interesting was about to happen. ¡°Mhm¡­?¡± The first to hear it were those with an acute sense of hearing, the sound then grew louder and louder until everyone could hear it. It was the sound a running stream made, the sound of flowing water and it sounded from within the barrier enveloped in darkness. Amidst the running stream sound, another sound emerged but it was completely different from the stream sound that could help one relax. This one sounded like a bellow of a crocodile or alligator but when it was about to end, it sounded like the howling wind. The audience didn''t feel it but fear, very slowly, started to creep into their hearts. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. After a few minutes, the bellowing sound disappeared but was replaced by another sound. This sound was like that of a bear, the sound of a bear weeping like a human but with a much deeper voice. Few minutes after that, another sound emerged and replaced that of a weeping bear. It was the sound of whispers, like a group of children discussing how to escape after being trapped in an unknown place. The sounds just kept changing, each creepier than the sound of a crying woman, a moaning man sound, the sound of hurried breathing through a water pipe and many times. The arena had become quiet because even participants from the two other stages could hear these creepy noises. If that was not enough, a bloodied hand suddenly appeared from within the barrier and touched it. ¡®Is someone there?¡¯ everyone thought. The fog made it difficult for everyone to see clearly what was happening inside the barrier but they could at least tell that there was someone standing close to the barrier and touching it. Except for the bloodied hand, nothing else could be seen. [Hey¡­ can you¡­ hear me¡­] a little girl''s voice sounded in everyone''s ears including viewers wherever they were. [Yes you¡­ you''re looking at me right now¡­ can you hear me¡­] said the voice as it even waved at the audience. Ba-dum! Ba-dum! Ba-dum! [Come here¡­ I want to¡­ tell you a¡­ secret¡­ I¡­ won''t¡­ hurt you¡­] Ba-dum! Ba-dum! Ba-dum! [Please¡­ please come play with me¡­ I want¡­ mommy¡­ don''t ignore me¡­ please¡­ I just¡­ want to play¡­] said the person as they placed their head on the barrier. Even though seeing through the barrier, not one person doubted their eyes because in front of them was something they''d never seen before. It was an empty face. No eyes, ears, nose, mouth or even hair. A faceless face had shown itself. [I''m¡­ not a bad¡­ pers¡­] before this thing could even finish speaking, it was yanked back by something, something powerful. BOOOOOM!!! A loud explosion sounded as the shockwaves collided with the barrier causing multiple cracks to appear. BOOOOOM!!! Another explosion occurred and even more cracks appeared on the barrier but no one seemed to want to run away. No one wanted to miss out on the action. BOOOOOM!!! The third explosion occurred and the barrier was completely covered in cracks but fortunately it didn''t collapse. The sound of footsteps sounded from within the barrier and in just seconds, a finger slightly poked the barrier and the entire thing collapsed. WHOOOSH!!! The black fog spread out in all directions and engulfed everything in its path. It seemed endless and spread out in all directions. If the spectators wanted to escape, it was already too late because the fog enveloped them in a blink of an eye. Freed Underground Arena was huge and built like a cylindrical tall building. Although it wasn''t as tall as the mall above it, it was still massive but the fog managed to completely engulf it in mere seconds. The fog moved at insane speed and was continuing to spread, spilling out into the Freed Mall, enveloping each floor in complete darkness. The magic formations the shops had seemed incapable of stopping this strange phenomenon from entering. The fog continued upwards until it pierced through the last floor of Freed Mall and continued upwards into the sky. If one were to look at the black fog from afar, it would appear as a black pillar of darkness piercing through the sky, creating cyclonic storm clouds. In the centre or the eye of the cyclone, a red star shone brightly, dying the black clouds with a red light. As though provoked, countless stars appeared in the clouded sky to form twelve creatures. The dark clouds were forcefully dispersed by the mere appearance of the twelve star formed creatures. These twelve creatures attacked the crimson star at the same time, causing its light to dim considerably. ROOOAAARRR!!! [DAMN ZODIACS! THE DAY I SURPASS YOU, YOUR CONSTELLATION LIGHT SHALL BRIGHTEN MINE! YOUR STARS, YOUR DESCENDANTS, YOUR BLOODLINE¡­ WILL NOURISH MINE! THAT I PROMISE YOU!!!] Chapter 22: Mystery Solved? ¡°Thank you all for coming at such a short notice, I''m sure it caused you a lot of inconveniences to come all the way here.¡± ¡°Taurus, no need to beat around the bush. I''ve already lost my position as patriarch and I''m sure all of you are in similar situations so get straight to the point.¡± said the man with a deep voice. The others nodded in agreement. There were exactly thirteen people sitting around a long table. Each of them representing their Zodiac Family. Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces. A total of six women and seven men, each wearing clothes that hid their appearances since they were too embarrassed to appear in public after what happened to them. Taurus, with the biggest stature also nodded in agreement. Only he didn''t hide his appearance because one, this meeting was being held at his home and two, with how big he was, anyone could easily recognise him so he didn''t bother to do so. ¡°You''re right, my apologies. It seems that the matter of Nolan is much bigger than we anticipated. A person who is able to awaken the Red Star isn''t much of a big deal but if it needs the ancestors to personally act in suppressing it, that''s a completely different story. Which is why I propose we use all our resources to try and eliminate this threat before he becomes stronger. Even if it means throwing away our pride and jumping him.¡± said Taurus. Everyone turned their heads to look at the man who had spoken for them just now, even Taurus was looking at him. ¡°Why are you looki¡­ fine. When it''s time to kill that brat, I''ll swallow my pride and work with y''all.¡± he said in resignation. ¡°Now, we can say with 100% certainty that this Bloodbath is actually our target Nolan. From the videos circulating around, we''ve found out that he''s proficient in the Killing Concept to a point where even we, are stumped by it, it just doesn''t make sense. He''s also skilled in using short swords and according to the books, his also skilled in using a spear so we can safely assume that he''s proficient in all kinds of weapons. Also, his combat experience is unlike anything we''ve ever seen before, able to adapt and strive in any crisis,identify one''s weaknesses in mere seconds, this information is substantiated by the records. What else do we know about him?¡± ¡°We know that he eats people to grow stronger, we have evidence of this from what was shown in the trending videos.¡± ¡°Then we can conclude that he''s still using the same Meditation Art he created a thousand years ago. He might have improved it in the course of three years that he was hiding but the method still provides a weak foundation.¡± The group discussed Nolan''s strengths and weaknesses, used reliable information to back up their claims and assumptions to ensure that they neither overestimated or underestimated their opponent because either one could prove fatal in a matter of life and death. ¡­ ¡°Now, for the million dollar question. Why didn''t the ancestors directly kill him after they managed to capture him? No matter how wounded they were, killing him wouldn''t have taken much effort, especially when he was sealed.¡± ¡°I''ve been asking myself the same question since I heard about Nolan''s escape. Killing him really should have been easy unless¡­¡±Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Unless what?¡± ¡°I have three speculations regarding this matter. The first one is that he made a deal with the ancestors to ensure his survival which is highly unlikely due to how dangerous he is according to the records. Second speculation is that Nolan had something the ancestors wanted but that''s also unlikely since they simply had to kill and obtain whatever they wanted. If it was information then a Soul Search would have done the trick. And lastly, it''s possible that after being captured, Nolan made it so that they literally couldn''t kill him.¡± one of the ladies spoke. When she said the last sentence, she seemed to realise something. ¡°I remember there being a photo obtained after hacking all the Star Watches of the Natural Explorers group. It was a photo of a dreadlocks man submerged in a black liquid but the report said that they found nothing inside that cave except for hair and blood stains. There was no mention of the black liquid¡­¡± ¡°You mean¡­¡± ¡°Yes. I believe that the black liquid on the other is the key to solving the mystery of why Nolan wasn''t killed. And I have a hunch that it''s related to the weirdness of his Intent Concept.¡± ¡­ A few hours ago, Bloodbath who had just awoken his Red Star cursed the Zodiacs for suppressing it as soon as it appeared. As angry and unwilling as he was, with his current strength, there was nothing he could do about it so he quickly accepted his current circumstances. It was then that he also noticed that his Killing Aura had engulfed the entire Freed Underground Arena and everyone in it as well as in Freed/Serpent Mall. ¡°Nightmare Illusion¡­¡± muttered Nolan after seeing everyone''s expression. He didn''t immediately retract his Killing Aura and instead used it to his advantage. Manoeuvring his way through the arena, he found his way back to Angy''s office. Nolan could also use his Killing Aura as another form of sight where he had no blind spots but it consumed too much energy. ¡°Wake up.¡± he said after seeing that even Angy hadn''t escaped from his Nightmare Illusion. Angy was jolted awake after the fog stopped working on her. She then tried to wake Troy up but no matter what she did, Troy remained dazed. ¡°Hey, I don''t have much time. Open up.¡± said Nolan on the other side of the metallic door. Angy then opened the door for him without doubting the voice because she had known Nolan''s identity as Bloodbath from the very beginning. ¡°It''s time for you to complete your end of the deal.¡± said Nolan while holding himself back from drooling. ¡°It was a pleasure working with you MrNolan.¡± said Angy as she scanned Nolan''s QRC with her own and received a message that Angy had transferred a certain amount of money to him. The number had so many zeros that Nolan didn''t even bother to count. He was about to leave when Angy stopped him with her words. ¡°Mr Nolan, can you please spare me two minutes of your time. I promise I won''t be long.¡± she said. ¡°Go ahead,¡± he answered. ¡°Are you interested in a long term contract with the Underground Arena Company as a whole, the benefits are quite good. We''ll fully invest in you and provide you with all the resources you need and everything else which includes Meditation Arts, Capital, Weapons, Medicine, knowledge, Dungeons and Gates, etc. You just have to sign here and all of the things I mentioned will be yours, the only cost is that you''ll be bound to the company.¡± ¡°I don''t mind losing my freedom in exchange for resources and your offer is quite enticing that I''m tempted to accept. Let me ask you this, can the Underground Arena Company survive under the attack of the Zodiac Families?¡± ¡°One Zodiac Family is not a threat to¡­¡± ¡°Not one but all twelve Zodiac Families. Can Underground Arena Company protect me if all twelve of them are willing to go to a life and death battle to make sure that they leave with my head?¡± ¡°All twelve?! This¡­¡± ¡°Talk to your superiors and tell them exactly how I said it. In the meantime, I''m gonna need you to do me a favour. I want you to help my goblins obtain a Meditation Art custom made for goblins, doesn''t matter the grade but it has to be specifically for goblins. Another thing, I want you to help take care of them for a short while. I''ll owe you one.¡± ¡°S-Sure! I''ll take good care of them.¡± ¡°Thanks and don''t tell any outsiders about our interaction. The less people who know that I come into contact with you, the better.¡± ¡°I understand.¡± [Good. Riri! Wake the fuck up and let''s get the hell out of here!] Chapter 23: Identity Exposed Before making a run for it, Nolan first went to the Noble Association store. The shop was enveloped in his black fog but once he entered, he was surprised to see that the staff was conscious and doing their own stuff on their desks. They all had a look of boredom but that changed the moment they saw Nolan looking at them. All of them left their desks and quickly approached Nolan. Seeing that whatever was about to happen would waste his time, Nolan quickly ran to the elevator and entered it. The elevator took him straight to his destination. The old man from before was still there, there wasn''t any black fog in this area. Sensing someone''s presence, the old man turned around and saw that it was Nolan whom he had secretly mocked. ¡°Welcome dear customer, what¡­¡± ¡°Give me the Death Space item and its instruction manual,¡± said Nolan. ¡°Don''t worry dear customer, it''s quite eas¡­¡± ¡°I''m on a time crunch so add the instruction manual of the item, One Trillion MC is a lot of money so you better give me the instruction manual. And where do I pay?¡± The old man no longer spoke and wasn''t enraged by how Nolan had cut him off when he was talking. Instead, he gave Nolan a very friendly smile as a black marble floated on the old man''s hand. ¡°Please scan here to complete your payment and the item is yours. When you pour Mana into it, all the relevant information shall appear directly on your mind.¡± Nolan quickly paid for the Death Space item, put it on his storage ring and left the shop. Next, he went to the Blazing Forge Guild shop which took slightly more time than expected but he still obtained the Featherless Night Spear. He also bought himself two extremely sharp daggers, a bow and arrows, shurikens and other stuff. ¡­ Nolan was currently standing outside the mall''s entrance, standing not from far from the snake-head design. [Come!] As if the black fog was alive, it heeded the command it was given and poured out from the mall entrance and absorbed into Nolan''s body. If one were to look at this scene from a different angle, it would look like a massive snake breathing out black fog that engulfed the tiny human''s figure. The absorption of the black fog took about five minutes and everything returned to normal. ¡°Let''s go.¡± he said to Riri who was wearing a black scales cloak. Nolan had bought it for her to hide her identity and not draw unwanted attention since he was sure that his fame was about to hit the roof. ¡°Meghan, contact Loid and tell him I''m ready to hunt down the rabbit, I only need to know where it is burrowing.¡± ¡­ Seconds after Nolan had absorbed all the black fog into his body, the first person to wake up was the old man who had spoken up for Nolan when he was being compared to Combat Zone graduates. He looked at the arena and only saw a pile of white dust and no trace of Nolan. ¡°Boy, I''ve been on the run for as long as I can remember but because of you, I''m willing to return to my roots and take on my responsibilities so you better not disappoint me, hehe.¡± mumbled the old man to himself before disappearing without a trace.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. He reappeared outside the mall. If Nolan could see this scene, he would be scared shitless because the moment the old man appeared, he was standing exactly where Nolan had stood while absorbing the black fog. The old man then looked around before disappearing without a trace yet again. ¡­ For those who had been watching everything live, their eyes had stayed glued to their Star Watches. Since they were not affected by the black fog, they wanted to see if they could spot any hidden details and they had indeed seen Nolan leave the arena but not anything beyond that. ¡°Grandpa, what exactly happened there? My heart was pounding so fast it felt like it was going to explode. What exactly was that horrific monster capable of mimicking a baby''s voice?¡± asked the granddaughter while sighing in relief. That talking monster had almost caused her a heart attack, just thinking about it scared her and it wasn''t just her in this situation. Many people who had been watching the live fight had similar reactions. Some had even died or fell unconscious, it was that scary. ¡°I believe that what we just witnessed is the ruptured Killing Concept but I''m not completely certain. The reason I''m saying it''s the Killing Concept is because the Killing Concept is rumoured to affect the Soul on a much grander scale. If Souls can be enslaved or suppressed, why can''t realistic illusions that affect the Soul be conjured? What we witnessed was definitely the Killing Concept. This Bloodbath person sure is talented, I wonder what his true identity is.¡± said the wheelchair grandpa. ¡°He''s really amazing!¡± said the granddaughter. ¡­ Although nothing was happening, the live feed viewers watched the screen with bated eyes. Even though nothing was happening, they continued to watch. Just like that, an hour went by and by this point, everyone had woken and escorted out of the underground arena. Mysterious figures came to investigate Bloodbath''s identity and everything related to him. After the investigation was concluded, it was found out that Bloodbath was actually Nolan and his bounty was released to the public by the Zodiac Families. Everyman wondered why the Zodiacs were so invested in this case but after reading Nolan''s crimes, they completely understood why. -Murdered his own father. -Singlehandedly killed over 20% of the human population that was slightly above 8 billion at the time. -Kidnapped infants at the hospital and cooked them in a huge pot for days before eating them. -Annihilated cities with tens of millions of people living there in order to impress a girl who later became his wife. -Sneaked into an all girls party and raped all the girls there before eating them. The list went on and on and on, everything written was something only an inhumane person would do. If one wanted to defend Nolan by saying that he was mentally ill, his medicine report was also attached to the bounty. It was clearly written that Nolan was not crazy but just evil, not the kind where you''re born physically different or born inherently evil. This guy just chose to be, he chose to be evil, he didn''t have cannibalistic thoughts or edges, just chose to eat people for no reason. ¡­. He also went by many titles as written on his bounty poster. -Hostis Humani Generis -Heartless Monster -Abomination -Human Devourer -King of Rapists -Infant Cooker -Evil in Human Form ¡­ ¡°Cindy, I know what you''re thinking right now but don''t do it.¡± ¡°Jason, you know what kind of person I am. I absolutely won''t allow such a vile creature to roam this world. I won''t allow this ¡®thing¡¯ to continue to live. I''d rather die than to breathe the same air as this cancer of a human who cooks and eats infants.¡± ¡°I understand okay, I also want to kill him, but you have to be rational about this. That guy is crazy strong if even the Zodiacs couldn''t do a thing to him. As you are now, you''ll only be sending yourself to your own death. I''m not saying to spare his life, all I''m saying is that have the ability to kill him no matter what tricks he uses.¡± said Jason. ¡°Fine then. Call my mother and tell her we''re coming home.¡± ¡°Thanks for understanding.¡± ¡­ ¡°Now it makes sense why he has such a powerful Killing Aura! He actually killed so many people and even ate them, yuck!¡± said the granddaughter. The grandpa didn''t say anything and just read the information written on the bounty. He didn''t show any reaction but his granddaughter knew that he was fuming inside. This was because the old man''s eyes were glowing in a dangerous glint. ¡®Infant Cooker¡­¡± ¡­ The person in question was currently travelling at fast speed within the tall, grassy mountains. He didn''t know that not only was his bounty made public, the bounty money had also been increased from 50 Trillion MC to 150 Trillion MC. He''d been travelling in this place for about a week now. "We''re here," he said. In front of Nolan and Riri was a portal that was a mix of red and blue. ¡®My delicious prey, it''s time to meet your maker, hehehe.¡¯ Chapter 24: Beautiful What Nolan and Riri were looking at now was something called a Gate. A small world that gives a reward to those who clear it. The red and blue colours indicated that the Gate was almost cleared and the people inside would come out soon. Fortunately Nolan didn''t have to wait for too long, after just a few hours of scouting, a person came out of the portal. Immediately after the person came out, the portal turned blue for a few seconds before closing up and disappearing. The blue colour indicated that the Gate had been successfully cleared and if it had turned red after the person came out, it would mean that the Gate wasn''t cleared successfully. The person who came out was half naked. He was wearing only torn pants, a clear indication that he''d been in many battles inside the Gate. The man''s aura was completely contained within him, making himself appear ordinary. That would have been the case if his body wasn''t built like a piece of art. His chiselled muscles, milky white glistening skin, handsome appearance and otherworldly hair spoke volumes about the man. Nothing about the man''s appearance indicated being ordinary. This man was the same person that Nolan had seen in Ben''s Restaurant and even exchanged a few blows with him. Nolan had found out through Loid that this guy''s name was Tyler Egac. Tyler, who had just appeared sensed danger and his body moved on its own, dodging the shurikens that suddenly appeared from nowhere. The shurikens were followed by dozens of arrows laced with poison. In Tyler''s eyes, these arrows were too slow for his eyes because he could even follow their direction with his eyes after they missed him. Tyler''s eyes followed the last arrow that barely missed his cheek, his expression was calm the whole time but something unexpected happened. After the last arrow missed him, a man had suddenly appeared in front of him holding a black marble. The marble then expanded in size and covered a large area in a short period of time. Everything happened so fast that Tyler didn''t have time to react and was trapped inside the marble''s space. Tyler looked at the person standing not far from him and recognised him immediately. It could even be said that the man had had such a great impact on Tyler that Tyler could recognise him at a glance. ¡°It''s you!¡± exclaimed Tyler. ¡°We meet again, Tyler Egac.¡± ¡°You, how do you¡­¡± Two sharp daggers were thrown at him before he could even finish speaking. Tyler twisted his body to the side, the two daggers barely missing Tyler''s head. But before Tyler could sigh in relief, Nolan appeared a few centimetres from him, grabbed hold of one of the daggers in reverse grip and tried to pierce the back of Tyler''s head. Tyler did a 90 degrees forward lean and successfully dodged the attack but he wasn''t out of danger just yet. Since his body bent forward by 90 degrees, he executed a heel kick. The heel kick landed on Nolan''s chin but it wasn''t powerful enough to do any serious damage but did push Nolan back. Tyler then raised his other leg and was now standing upside down and finally, even though upside down, he had his eyes on his enemy. A dagger was already aiming for his waist so he rolled back his legs, another dagger aimed for his head again and he executed a kick up. Spinning mid air like a cat when preparing to land on its feet, took out two crescent blades and blocked another dagger attack aimed at the back of his head. The reason for so many dagger attacks was because Nolan had attached thin threads on the daggers in order to not be unarmed when he threw them. These threads helped him to pull them back and use them continuously. Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Daggers and blades collided again and again as the two guys exchanged dozens of moves in mere seconds. They also moved at such a fast speed that without the sparks, pinpointing their location as a Star Warrior would have been extremely difficult. Tyler knew that his body was very strong but his instincts told him to be wary of the daggers and he didn''t ignore them. If it was a fist fight, Tyler was sure that Nolan would have lost because he was physically stronger than him. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Tyler retreated a great distance after successfully blocking all attacks from Nolan. He then tried to escape this place using special means but nothing happened. Tyler then sensed danger from Nolan again and when he looked at him, the guy had taken out a bow and arrows. ¡°Fuck..!¡± Swoosh! The first arrow was released from the bowstring and flew towards its target but Tyler easily dodged the arrow. Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Nolan kept releasing arrows and Tyler kept dodging. Many times he''d thought that Nolan was out of arrows only for the guy to take out more from his storage ring and continue aiming for him. Tyler realised that he had no choice but to engage in close combat since this running around was depleting his stamina. ¡®Motherfucker! Pushing me to a corner! I''ll show you that rats also bite when cornered!¡¯ he thought. He continued to dodge Nolan''s arrows while closing the distance between them. Nolan had perfectly planned all of this. If someone wasn''t proficient enough in close combat they''d naturally keep their distance from their opponents. So Nolan came up with a solution for that too, ranged attacks were the best when distance was involved. With this, he gained a greater advantage over his opponents because he was constantly on the offensive, leaving his opponents no room but to try and end the fight quickly. Tyler was doing the exact same thing, he wanted to end things quickly and was about to go all out. Nolan thought that he had everything under control until he saw and experienced Tyler''s trump card. Tyler''s body turned red from the heat coming from within him. His golden hair turned yellow and his eyes glowed brightly like two suns in the sky. The temperature in the surroundings rose rapidly, heating up even the air. Nolan felt like he''d been thrown in the pool of molten lava, when he breathed in, the hot air damaged his lungs. His skin was slowly being cooked and he couldn''t open his eyes or else he''d lose them. Nolan also realised that he''d miscalculated but all hope was not lost. [Killing Aura Release!] He released his Killing Aura which looked like a cloud of black gas, no longer crimson red like before. Nolan didn''t use his Killing Aura to attack Tyler''s Soul because his senses told him that that would be useless so he used the Killing Aura as his eyes. Nolan also found out that Tyler''s heat, whatever it was, was suppressing his Killing Aura greatly. ¡®Shit! I have to finish this quickly! Just what fucking kind of star did he awaken! It''s so fucking domineering!¡¯ thought Nolan as he prepared himself. Tyler sent a punch that he blocked with his hand but still got burned. Nolan though didn''t care and moved his hand like a snake and grabbed Tyler''s wrist. This time, he didn''t aim the dagger at Tyler''s hand but it melted before it even touched him. Tyler then sent a second punch, then a third, a fourth and soon, Nolan was being bombarded by Tyler''s extremely hot punches. If it was an ordinary Constellation Warrior then they would have turned to ashes a long time ago. Even though Nolan wasn''t dead, his situation wasn''t good. His arms which blocked most of Tyler''s punches were now nothing but bones, most of his face was also burned, showing his teeth and parts of his skull. He was completely naked but still spared enough energy to protect his penis. ¡°Tyler Egac, let''s finish this in one final attack. Inside my Death Space, all forms of spatial travel don''t work here and only the last man standing can leave this place! With my next attack, I''ll be sure to take your goddamn life!¡± said Nolan as massive amounts of Killing Aura was released by him. Seeing that Nolan was preparing for his last attack, Tyler also did the same. His fist was coated in orange energy with such a high temperature it caused space to tremble. He put everything in this next attack and was very confident in himself. ¡°COME!!!¡± shouted Nolan. Whoosh! Whoosh! BOOOOOM!!!!! A powerful explosion occurred that even collided with the Death Space barrier, causing it to tremble. Dust had risen but as time went by, the dust settled down and the outcome of the battle was shown. Nolan had a gaping hole on his chest, his heart completely destroyed. Tyler was standing in front of him while missing an arm and was exhausted. ¡°Haa¡­ haa¡­ haa¡­ I¡­ win¡­¡± said Tyler with a triumphant look. Nolan didn''t respond to Tyler and just fell face first to the ground. His body without signs of vitality. Tyler wanted to take Nolan''s storage ring as his spoils of war but he couldn''t find it and naturally came to the conclusion that it was burned to ashes during the battle. He turned around and walked away slowly while limping. He kept on thinking about the battle and how to approach similar situations in the future. He also thought about how lucky he was to actually advance to the Constellation Realm when he was still inside the Gate. As he thought about all of this, he thought about the endless arrows that Nolan had constantly taken out from his storage ring to exhaust him. ¡®Wait a minute. Since when did destroyed storage artefacts not release everything inside them? Unless¡­¡¯ as he reached the last thought, Puchi! Pfft! Puchi! Swoosh! A white spear pierced through his heart and he vomited blood, the spear was then pulled out and sliced through Tyler''s neck and beheaded him. While his head was flying in the air, Tyler was astounded by Nolan''s current appearance that he forgot about what he wanted to ask, he did manage to utter a single word before he died though. ¡°Beautiful¡­¡± Chapter 25: Unreasonable Strength Nolan sat beside the headless body of Tyler, his wounds were completely healed, even the gaping hole on his chest had completely closed up. Nolan didn''t immediately start eating Tyler but instead kept his Death Space marble, then he took Tyler''s head and started masterfully removing the hair from his scalp. He treated each strand of hair like a treasure that he didn''t want to damage. After all the hair was removed from Tyler''s head, he called Riri over and handed her the man''s head and told her that it was his gift to her. Riri didn''t know what to do with the head but Nolan told her to take extra care of it because this head contained in it a once in a lifetime opportunity for her. Nolan then sent Loid a message that the job was done and Loid told him to wait for a few minutes because the person he sent was on the way. Five minutes later, Loid''s bodyguard that Nolan had previously seen inside Ben''s Restaurant arrived. Nolan then showed the man Tyler''s corpse and even gave him the glistening hair that he''d just removed from Tyler''s head. It was only after the bodyguard had left that Nolan set his eyes on the corpse again. His mouth drooled as he looked at it and without further ado, Nolan dug in. ¡°Delicious!¡± exclaimed Nolan in glee. Nolan''s taste buds were stimulated by the delicious taste of meat that Nolan was eating. Every bite Nolan took was full of flavours and energy, making him almost go crazy from the deliciousness. Riri also wanted to taste Tyler''s flesh but judging from his expression, she didn''t dare to ask for even a drop of blood. While eating, Nolan''s veins squirmed around his body like he was suffering from varicose veins. Suddenly the veins just disappeared, Nolan spat out a mouthful of blood before continuing with his meal. Riri wasn''t exactly sure about what just happened but she was 70% certain that what Nolan just did was rupture his veins. The veins were then healed before being ruptured again. This process continued for a few more times, only when Nolan finished eating Tyler''s corpse did the self harm stopped. Nolan''s strength also rose from a One Star Constellation Realm to a Three Star Constellation Realm. The duo was about to leave when someone appeared beside Nolan and grabbed his shoulder. At that moment, Nolan''s body tensed up and completely froze. His instincts were telling him to not be foolish because a single mistake could cost him his life. Nolan felt a powerful yet gentle energy invade his body, it moved as quickly as lightning, travelling throughout his body in an instant. ¡°What an interesting Mana Meditation method you have there. Able to strengthen bones and internal organs as well as purify your blood in the First Volume. The Second Volume allows you to strengthen your Mana Veins and also expand them, I''m guessing it will also include a creating a second Mana Heart or expanding the one you already have, not only that but also help you condense a Mana Soul. Boy, just where did you obtain this Meditation Art?¡± spoke an elderly man''s voice. ¡°I created it. I call it the Nolan Meditation Art or the Hellish Evolution Art for public appearances¡± answered Nolan truthfully. He didn''t even think about spouting nonsense like asking who the person was, what he wanted from him, where he came from or other stupid questions. This person was strong, so strong that Nolan thought it didn''t make sense. ¡°You created it..?!¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°How?!¡± ¡°I have extensive knowledge about the human body, I know the ins and outs of it, especially my own body. In fact, I''d thought of this method a long time ago but at that time, the Mana in the air was extremely thin so using it to become stronger would take me a very long time so I didn''t cultivate it but saved it in memory.¡± ¡°When Mana was thin? Then how old are you?¡± ¡°I don''t know, a thousand and something years old but my mind is that of a twenty five year old like my actual looks. I don''t count the one thousand years because I didn''t experience living one thousand years because I spent that time in slumber.¡± The elderly voice was silent for a while before it spoke again. ¡°A thousand years, you''re still young. Boy, I have an opportunity for you, join my sect. Your talent is wasted on this world, only in my sect will you be able to take off and unleash your full potential.¡± ¡°Okay, I agree.¡± ¡°Don''t rush to reje¡­ wait what? Did you just agree so quickly. Don''t you even want to consider it first before you make a decision?¡± ¡°No. You''re strong and I want to become as strong as you so why would I reject such an offer. And I assume you already know about my old enemy right but you''re still not deterred by them which means that your sect is a force to be reckoned with. Old man, we live in reality, rejecting your offer wouldn''t just be stupid of me, it also wouldn''t make sense.¡± ¡°You''re right. Then we''re gonna leave in¡­¡± ¡°Guys, I think I found him! So you''ve been hiding here all this time. Good thing we''re able to trace your star since it just got stronger.¡± spoke a deep voice. A person then appeared, it was a giant of a man, standing at a whopping five meters, muscles everywhere and holding a massive axe. He was the ex-patriarch of the Taurus Family. Twelve more people appeared and every one of them was as powerful as the tall and muscular man. ¡°Young ones, this boy is already part of my sect so you can forget about laying a hand on him. Now leave before things get ugly.¡± said the elderly person. ¡°We don''t give a shit about your sect. We are from the Zodiac Families, and received orders directly from our ancestors to kill this guy. So old man, you either leave or die trying to protect him, your choice.¡± answered Taurus. ¡°Are you sure you don''t give a shit about my sect? I haven''t even told you its name yet.¡± ¡°Okay then tell us the name and see if we care.¡± ¡°Demonic Sect.¡± Silent reigned in the area after the old man introduced his sect, Taurus who had been arrogant this whole time became silent. Not just him but also his companions were silent. ¡°I think we should contact the ancestors first before we take drastic measures.¡± advised someone in the group. ¡°You''re right. Since we can''t make a decision on our own, we shall take our leave but remember Nolan, the whole world knows about you and your deeds. If you dare set foot on Earth again, you''ll die without a complete corpse.¡± ¡°Okay, I won''t set foot on Earth again but when I''m strong enough, I''ll just destroy it if it doesn''t accept me.¡± answered Nolan calmly. The group gave him cold glances before leaving. The girls whispered among themselves as they left, Nolan still heard a bit about what they were whispering about. ¡°...Did you see his dick¡­¡± ¡°...So big even when it''s limp¡­¡± ¡°...I wonder what it would feel like, inside of me¡­¡± Nolan couldn''t help but chuckle at their remarks. He wondered how they''d react if they knew that it wasn''t always this big.¡± ¡®Lamarck''s Law huh¡­¡± he thought. ¡°Boy, it looks like there''s a change in plans. We must leave as soon as possible, is there anything still left for you to do here, people to talk to one last time?¡± asked the old man. ¡°No, everything is taken care of. We can leave anytime you want.¡± ¡°Okay, let''s leave now.¡± [Seal Release!] A powerful aura erupted from the old man and spread out in all directions, suppressing everything in its path. The Zodiac group that were flying away fell heavily to the ground and couldn''t move a single muscle. It wasn''t just them but everyone in the city, then the countries, the continent, continents and finally the world. The Current Earth was massive, like super massive, it was a hundred times bigger than Jupiter of the past, about one hundred and thirty thousand times bigger. And the old man''s aura had completely engulfed Earth and not just Earth but the Star System and even the Solar System. This old man had reached the realm called the Black Dwarf Star Realm, capable of freezing an entire nebula with a wave of a hand. {Hold on tight boy. Oh, I almost forgot about your pet, hehe.} Chapter 26: Questions and Answers Nolan blinked and the next thing he knee, he was already in outer space. The question that immediately came to Nolan''s mind was how was he able to breathe in space and it turned out that he actually couldn''t. There was an invisible barrier around the three of them, providing air and protection. {I have created a barrier that will protect the two of you, you can''t survive in space yet. Our journey will take a while before we reach our destination so you can ask me any question along the way.} said the old man. Nolan nodded and the old man started to move. A wormhole appeared and the trio seemed to travel through it. In fact, the appearance of a wormhole while travelling wasn''t a natural occurrence but artificial. A wormhole was in simple terms space friction that acted against those travelling extremely fast in space. Since the old man moved at speeds faster than light, he was colliding with space forces. It was very similar to the sonic booms created when travelling faster than sound but one couldn''t travel faster than space since space was everywhere. Inside the barrier, Nolan didn''t experience the speed at which they were travelling in but was instead thinking about what questions to ask. ¡°Elder, who are you exactly and why did you choose me to become a member of your Demonic Sect.¡± {I''m the Grand Elder of the Demonic Sect, my Title Name is Lalabu so you can just call me Elder Lalabu. I hold a very high position in the Demonic Sect, even higher than that of a Sect Leader. The reason I chose you is because of your Killing Concept that was even able to affect me. You have great potential and talent but also the way you think falls in line with how the Demonic Sect does things.} ¡°Oh right, Elder Lalabu, you''re so strong so why was my Nightmare Illusion able to affect you? It doesn''t make sense.¡± {Nightmare Illusion, so that''s what it''s called. Why did it affect me, well that''s easy. People at my Realm have to completely seal off all their powers to live in a weak world without it rejecting us. So after sealing all my powers, I became a somewhat above average person so obviously your Nightmare Illusion would affect me.} ¡°So Elder Lalabu, can you manipulate time, like turn it back or freeze it, things like that.¡± {I personally cannot do that but I''ve heard of something like that but it''s much more complicated than that. Firstly, even those who control time can''t reverse it and also can''t accelerate it. The only thing they are able to do is Stop Time within a limited area.} ¡°Why can''t they travel back in time or into the future? Time Stop only is kinda boring.¡± {Time Reverse can''t exist because once you''re dead, your Soul goes to a place you humans call Hell but it goes by other names in other places. Now, if Time Reverse existed then it would be like an ordinary person opening a tiger''s mouth and taking out food it has already swallowed which would be absolute nonsense. As for travelling to the past and future, that''s also unrealistic. Think about it, if we could truly travel back to the past then we wouldn''t grow as living and intelligences creatures. The mistakes we make, the choices we make, the actions we take, whether right or wrong are what makes us grow, what makes us different and what defines us as individuals.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. For example, let''s say you impregnated a girl by mistake and after finding out, you ran away to a faraway country. Years go by and you later find out that the girl committed suicide shortly after you ran away because the burden was just too much for her to carry. Only then will you learn how to take responsibly for your actions and also make better decisions. But if you could go back to the past and just undo what you did, you wouldn''t be learning anything right, you wouldn''t grow as a person. Things that come easy also perish easily but things that take time, effort and hard work are hard to erase. A person who inherits a company would have a different mindset from a person who created it from scratch. When it comes to travelling to the future, that would also be nonsense because how could you travel to a place you don''t even know if you exist in. Let''s say tomorrow is the day you die, how then can you travel to a future where you''re already dead. We can only look back to the past to see how far we''ve gone and we can only look forward to the future because it''s unknown and we can only enjoy the present because it''s all we''re gonna get.} The elders'' words were very profound and full of knowledge which Nolan couldn''t fully comprehend yet but would be very useful in the future if he managed to understand what the elder just told him. ¡°Elder Lalabu, is the universe infinite and ever expanding like humans think?¡± {The universe isn''t infinite but it''s expanding but not in the way you think. How many species do you think exist in the universe? Don''t ask me because I also don''t know but it''s countless species. This question, I think it''s best you figure it out on your own.} ¡­ While Nolan was asking Elder Lalabu all kinds of questions, Earth had regained its peace after they left and the suppressive aura didn''t cause a big commotion because those weaker only felt bodies become heavy and that was it, only strong people felt fear from the bottom of their hearts but didn''t say anything. Inside the throne room of the Roan Kingdom, Loid and his siblings were kneeling in front of their father. This time, the throne wasn''t high up but actually down to the flour. The king wasn''t sitting alone this time but with his first wife and also the queen who actually looked like him and wore the same overcoat as his. In fact, looking at the two of them was like looking at the clones of each other, they looked ¡®that¡¯ alike. They continued their discussion until Loid''s bodyguard requested an audience with his master, which was Loid himself. The king allowed him to enter the throne room and the bodyguard came in carrying a scalp with hair. Everyone''s eyes focused on the hair because of how beautiful it was, the glistening hair fluttered with every step the bodyguard took. The bodyguard eventually reached Loid and gave him the hair as well as the recording of Tyler''s corpse. The contract between Loid and Nolan was considered complete. Loid asked the bodyguard through telepathy why he didn''t store the hair in a storage artefact and the bodyguard answered that he couldn''t, no matter how many times he tried, the hair couldn''t be stored in any kind of storage artefact. [Loid my son, if you borrow your father that wig for a while, I''ll take you back to the Roan Empire and ask the Emperor to recommend you to the Roan Royal Academy. I''ll also cover all the costs of your tuition while there.] said the king. Not just Loid but also Loid''s siblings were shocked by the way the king just addressed Loid. In private, the king did address some of them as his son''s and daughters but in public, that was a big no no. Not just that, Loid was also offered a chance to enter the Roan Royal Academy which was a great opportunity. But what happened next was unbelievable. [Loid my beautiful boy, after you''ve borrowed your father the wig, please lend it to me too. I''ll not only make you my favourite baby, incomparable to even your eldest brother who''s in the Empire right now, I''ll also allow your mother to be my secretary, is that okay with you my boy?] ¡®WHAT THE FUCK..!!!¡¯ Chapter 27: Demonic Sect ¡°So Elder Lalabu, how strong are you and how strong is the Demonic Sect?¡± {Boy, I think you''re asking the wrong question. Your question should instead be how strong do you have to be to travel in outer space without fear and what is that you need to reach that level. Before we start, what exactly do you know about the Star Realm Path?} ¡°I don''t know much about the Star Realm System since I only just woke up but what I do know for a fact is it''s a Power System that follows the path of stars.¡± answered Nolan. {Well¡­ you''re not wrong but your answer is lacking, a lot lacking. Firstly, three Star Realm Paths exist; Soul Star Path, Element Star Path and Body Star Path. One can only choose a path to grow stronger from these three but the other two are very rare, especially in humans as a whole. The most important thing isn''t the Star Path but the method to grow stronger.} ¡°Meditation Arts.¡± {Bingo. Meditation Arts are the most important for one to reach higher heights in their journey. The more advanced the Meditation Art is, the better but there exist even more valuable Meditation Arts which are custom made Meditation Arts. No Meditation Art of the same grade could compare to a custom made Meditation Art, it''s like the difference between night and day. Meditation Arts are classified into six grades; Common, Uncommon, Rare, Unique Epic and Legendary and each grade corresponds to the Star Realm System. Common Grade Meditation Art means that the best it could take is from the Star Warrior Realm to the Constellation Realm. Uncommon Grade will take you through the Celestial and Nova Realm. Rare Grade all the way through the Supernova and Nebula Realm. The Unique Grade through the Propostar and Red Giant. Epic will take you through the White Dwarf and Black Dwarf Realm and finally the Legendary Grade will take you through the Proton Decay and Blackhole Realms.} ¡°Star Warrior, Constellation, Celestial, Nova, Supernova, Nebula, Propostar, Red Giant, White Dwarf, Black Dwarf, Proton Decay and Blackhole Realms. A total of twelve realms in total. That''s a long way to go but I''m willing to do the time.¡± {You have a good mentality. Most people are overwhelmed by this information, some even despair after obtaining this information. I didn''t want to tell you at first but figured out you''d find out one way or another. Tell me, why do you want to grow stronger? To accomplish your goals, make your dreams a reality, to protect someone, for freedom? What drives you forward?} ¡°Why do I want to become stronger? That''s a very stupid question, Elder Lalabu. I of course want to grow stronger because I don''t want to be weak or remain weak. Weak people receive sympathy, encouragement, contempt, bullying and pain. Weak people can''t protect shit, can''t even protect their hopes and dreams. Weak people are so weak, they can''t even push anyone forward so why would I be weak. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. I once came across someone who called himself a hero. And I asked him why he chose to become a hero and he told me that when he was young, he dreamed of becoming a hero. He dreamed of protecting and fighting for those weaker than him and was content with only receiving a ¡®Thank you¡¯ from the people he helped. So before I killed, I recorded the whole thing live and told the viewers that anyone, young or old, if they want to swap places with the hero, I''d kill them and spare the hero''s life. No one. Not one person came out to exchange their lives for that of the hero''s. And it wasn''t that all of them weren''t willing to do so but because they were with weak people. Weak people who''d only drag you down, tell you that it''s not worth it, ask you what''s the point, don''t be a hero, don''t go, you''ll die, you have a great future ahead of you so don''t do anything foolish. Weak people are just like that, they absorb your strength till you''re weak like them, till you have no pride or backbone. That day, I broke the hero''s spirit and have to admit it felt good. The look of pain and disappointment in his eyes, the look of betrayal and absolute despair, I enjoyed every moment of it. Even though he didn''t expect anything from the people he saved, he at least hoped that a single seed he planted would sprout¡­ but those weaklings made sure it didn''t, hahaha! There''s nothing more painful to a hero than letting him watch their legacy crumble in front of their eyes ,watching a bright future being consumed by darkness. Weak people love the most, people who fail in life. They love watching backbones slowly curve and perish, and they absolutely love watching heroes fall.¡± said Nolan while laughing in glee and excitement. ¡°I simply want to grow stronger so that no weak person can pull me down. I want to grow stronger so that no weak person can tell me I can''t do this or I can''t do that. I want to grow stronger so that I can make the impossible possible, achieve the unachievable, reach unreachable heights. And finally, I want to grow stronger to prove them wrong, prove to them that we''re all born strong, we''re all born strong but they choose to be weak.¡± {Is this why you chose the evil path? To not be weak? To not be burdened by the weak? To not be burdened by the expectations of the weak? That''s quite a good mindset you have there. Not living by other people''s expectations is good.} said Elder Lalabu. ¡°Hahaha! Ah hahaha. Elder, you''re wrong. I didn''t choose the evil path because of those weaklings! I chose the evil path because it looked fun. Don''t mistake my drive for my interest.¡± said Nolan proudly. Elder Lalabu was internally surprised by Nolan''s statement because it said a lot about him. Like how confident Nolan was in himself and secondly, the fact that Nolan became evil for no other reason than that it interested him. That was like intentionally making bad decisions simply because you could. It was then that the old man realised just how evil Nolan actually was. {I remember you asking about the Demonic Sect. We''re humans born from this universe and very few can match our power. Only the likes of Dragons, Giants, Elves and Werewolf can match our strength but this isn''t what truly shows how strong we are. The last time I remember, we owned close to a million superclusters, mind you, a single supercluster consists of about a hundred thousand galaxies. And we''re currently at war with all the powerful forces in the universe.} ¡°WHAT?!¡± How could Nolan not be shocked. The Demonic Sect owned hundreds of millions of galaxies! These weren''t worlds or solar systems but fucking galaxies! Fucking galaxies! Nolan didn''t know how strong one had to be to achieve such a feat but he knew that they were unimaginably strong. {Don''t worry though, you''re too weak to join the war so once we reach the sect, just do your best to grow stronger hehe.} Chapter 28: A God? ¡°Elder Lalabu, just how big is a galaxy?¡± asked Nolan. {How big is a galaxy? Well, it depends on the size of the galaxy. The tiniest galaxy is made up of approximately a thousand stars, planets, clouds of gases and dust while the largest galaxies have hundreds of trillions of stars, planets, clouds of gases and dust so it''s hard to give a clear estimate. I do know though that your Milky Way Galaxy has about six hundred billion stars, planets, clouds of gases and dust. See for yourself and make your own judgement but I assure you, galaxies are very big from what people imagine. Here, have a look for yourself.} said Elder Lalabu as he tapped Nolan''s glabella. Vast amounts of information appeared directly in Nolan''s mind, completely overwhelming him. When he finally took control over his thoughts, Nolan found himself in outer space, facing against the familiar blue planet, Earth. Compared to Earth, Nolan might as well have been microscopic. The scene then shifted, now, he wasn''t close to the Earth but a little further away from it, around him but from a distance were stars shining brightly. The scene shifted again and now, it wasn''t just a scene of stars but stars mixed with other planets, Nolan was currently looking at the solar system. The whole time, Nolan felt small and insignificant. The scene shifted again and now he was observing a huge orange cloud in space from outside, the cloud grew bigger and bigger until Nolan couldn''t even see where it started or where it ended. This was the nebula. Then the scene shifted again, now showing countless stars, planets, vast clouds of gases and dust and it was growing bigger by the second. Nolan estimated that he was currently looking at at least millions of stars and the number just kept growing by the minute. Even when Nolan thought it was about to end, it continued to grow. Since this place didn''t have a sense of time, all Nolan could do was continue to watch as the small galaxy became bigger and bigger and bigger without end. Nolan had realised a long time ago that compared to even the Solar System, he was nothing, compared to the nebula, he was less than nothing and compared to the growing Milky Way Galaxy, he was completely non-existent. He could in no way, shape or form affect it. He even thought back to the people who always said that they were the centre of the universe. He couldn''t even say they were delusional because like him, they were non-existent, less than non-existent even. Information for Nolan, even after he identified his identity in the galaxy, the galaxy continued to expand. And as it expanded, it even started to consume Nolan''s sense of self and just when Nolan was about to completely lose himself and become a soulless body, an empty shell, he was brought back to reality. ¡°Argh¡­ cough¡­ cough¡­ cough¡­ haaa¡­haaa¡­.haaa¡­haaa¡­¡± As soon as he was brought out of his thoughts, Nolan whizzed, coughed and took deep breaths of air. His body was completely drenched in sweat. ¡°Elder, what was that..?¡± {Nothing much. That was simply the grandeur of the Milky Way Galaxy. You see, not just any Tom, Dick and Harry can gaze at the workings of the universe and get away with it, even a glimpse at it might cause the unqualified to perish without even knowing how they died.}If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°I see¡­¡± ¡­ The journey continued for a while and since inside Elder Lalabu''s barrier, there was no sense of time, Nolan could only rely on his Star Watch to check it and it seems they''d been travelling for months now. And finally, they reached their destination after about a year of travelling according to Earth''s time. {We''re here.} said the elder as his speed started to decrease. When the elder finally came to a stop, Nolan looked from above at the red swirling spiral galaxies. For as far as his eyes could see, countless red galaxies occupied every available space here. The elder didn''t descend into the red galaxy but instead took out a token written in words Nolan couldn''t read. Nolan didn''t know what was written on the token but seeing the elder''s serious expression, he knew that something big was about to happen. The token then emitted a red glow of exactly the same colour as that of the red galaxy. And right in front of Nolan, an absolutely colossal hand appeared from deep within the superclusters and grabbed at them. The hand looked illusory like it wasn''t a real hand but countless stars coming together to create it. Seeing the elder not running away from the palm grabbing at them, Nolan could only remain in place. After the huge palm enveloped them, it retracted back to the deepest parts of the superclusters. The hand was so fast that an outside viewer would think that they only saw an illusion of the hand. After a white, the palm unfurled like a blooming flower. Nolan saw the most majestic castle he''d ever seen in his life. It looked like it was made from mud or wet sand. The castle looked very steady and strong like it could survive any disaster that befell it. It exuded a very ancient aura like it had survived the test of time again and again. {Come. Let''s go see the Master.} said the elder as he flew into the castle with Nolan. The castle was completely pitch black but Elder Lalabu seemed to know his way around it and went deeper and deeper into the castle until he reached a dead end. Well, Elder Lalabu stopped walking forward so Nolan assumed they had reached a dead end but that was far from the truth. In front of Elder Lalabu was a massive door with a small keyhole the shape of the token. Putting the token inside the keyhole, the mechanism inside the door seemed to be triggered as the sound of gears and levers operating sounded out. A minute later, the massive door slowly opened and the elder entered with Nolan. On the other side of the massive door was a throne room but it didn''t feel like a throne room but rather felt like they were walking in space. The only thing glowing was a star path but after careful consideration, Nolan thought that it was a carpet. It couldn''t be helped that he thought it was a star path because the carpet was literally made from stars. They continued to walk for a while until they finally reached their end point, Nolan knew this because Elder Lalabu fell to his knees and prostrated himself. {Lalabu greets the Grand Supreme Elder. I have finally retired home after a long trip outside.} Nolan didn''t know what was going on but still followed the elder''s actions and prostrated himself. The entire dark space lit up in a cloudy blood red glow that spread out in all directions. A powerful gaze then landed on the two prostrating figures. |Raise Your Heads.| The two raised their heads but only Nolan was shocked by what he saw. ¡®Is this¡­ is this a¡­ God¡­?¡¯ All that Nolan could see were two eyes. Two enormous eyes the size of Earth''s moon in close proximity. Being looked at by those eyes, Nolan felt like even if he had secrets, in front of these eyes, all secrets could be easily exposed. Not just that, the feeling that this entity was giving was much greater than that of the Milky Way Galaxy. It felt like the entity was literally holding the universe together, like the galaxies were nothing but his subordinates to command any time he wished. |Lalabu, you''re finally back after¡­| ¡°AHHH!!! #$$#@@%, DIEEE!!!¡± |Haa¡­ still so mischievous I see¡­ but it''s all futile. Just accept your fate and I''ll put in a good for you to ^&$$&@#.| Chapter 29: Killing Scripture and Improvements Nolan woke up groggy with a splitting headache. It took him a while to come to his senses and once he did, he realised that he was in a dark space and when he looked at the carpet, he remembered just where he was. |You''re finally awake, I thought it would take longer. How do you feel?| sounded a hoarse man''s voice. Nolan looked up and saw what he could only describe as gigantic if it could even be called that. The giant of a man was sitting cross legged in front of him. He had reddish black exoskeleton skin and wore an old robe. Compared to this man, Nolan was literally the size of an ant and this man the size of an adult man. Nolan suddenly floated in the air and landed on one of the man''s palm that was absolutely massive. While Nolan looked at the man, the man was looking back with his planet sized crimson eyes. Nolan would have thought that the man was human if not for the antennae on his forehead and pincer-like mandibles for a mouth. He looked like a hybrid between a human and an ant and not just any ant but the bullet ant back on Earth. |Not bad. It''s rare for a human to have such a thick Killing Aura and not be affected mentally by it. But your method of utilising it is flawed, since this is considered our first meeting, I''ll impart to you the knowledge of the Killing Scripture, it will depend on you how many volumes you comprehend.| Said the man as he started speaking in a language Nolan didn''t know but could understand. Information went directly into his mind and his splitting headache disappeared. Nolan quickly sat cross legged and absorbed the information. As Nolan lost himself in the Killing Scripture, something was happening to him or rather his Killing Aura. Half of his Killing Aura had already turned into a liquid form but Nolan had so much Killing Aura that the conversion wasn''t balanced. And now, as the Killing Scripture filled his mind, the Killing Aura was turning into a liquid at a faster rate than before. This went on until all the Killing Aura had turned into a liquid which meant that it had turned into Killing Intent. Nolan''s Killing Intent was like a massive black ocean, causing big waves within his consciousness. The black ocean of Killing Intent churned, creating tsunamis and big waves. The black ocean began to shrink as it solidified. BOOM! Black energy burst out from Nolan''s body and spread outwards but an external force seemed to trap it in place, refusing to allow outside a radius of a hundred meters. The Killing Intent continued to coalesce until it formed a small reddish black crystal. This crystal continued to solidify until it became a big crystal and with this, Nolan had achieved the Killing Energy Phase. But even with this, it still wasn''t over. It seemed Nolan''s years of accumulating Killing Aura was about to reveal its rewards with interest. His understanding of Killing Aura, Killing Intent and Killing Energy fused into a single small bubble that entered the crystallised Killing Energy. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. When the small bubble entered the crystallised Killing Energy, the crystal then vibrated incessantly as it shrunk like something was devouring it from inside. Currently, the crystal was as big as a small mountain, hundreds of metres big but whatever that was deciding it from inside was doing a good job because it was shrinking at a speed visible to the naked eye. It didn''t take long for whatever was devouring the crystallised Killing Energy to finish the job and reveal itself. It was the small bubble that was now completely pitch black and looked quite beautiful. After that, the black bubble grew larger and larger until Nolan''s consciousness couldn''t handle it. When the consciousness had reached its limit, the black bubble popped. BOOOOOOM!!! A loud explosion rang out in Nolan''s mind and in the same instant that the bubble exploded, he floated a few meters above ground and opened his mouth and eyes which had turned completely black. His eyes were like the void, completely empty of light and his mouth was like the opening of the abyss. A silhouette then formed slowly behind Nolan, the silhouette was vague but slowly taking shape. |...Mhm..?| The ant-man who had his eyes closed this entire time and reciting the Killing Scripture was interrupted by the silhouette behind Nolan, although vague, it seemed clear in his eyes. |Kun¡­ no, it''s different. This fish and those wings¡­ hahaha! Boy, you truly are mischievous! Hahaha!| thought the ant-man as he continued to recite the Killing Scripture. The silhouette continued to outline itself until a clear picture was formed. It was the silhouette of a flying fish with six wings. When it opened its mouth, rows of sharp teeth made their appearance. The flying fish silhouette circled around Nolan for a few times before it entered his body. Nolan''s figure then descended and landed on the ant-man''s arm. Inside Nolan''s consciousness, everything was completely different. Instead of being called a consciousness, it should now be called the Soul Sea, the core of a person''s Soul. The flying fish silhouette was much clearer inside the Soul Sea than outside. The flying fish silhouette was devouring the black Soul Sea greedily but Nolan didn''t seem alarmed by this as if everything was under control. Time went by quickly and the flying fish had devoured all the black Soul Sea. It then grew larger and larger until the Soul couldn''t hold it inside so it released the flying fish. Once outside the Soul Sea, the flying fish continued to grow larger and larger until the Soul could fit into its mouth. The flying fish silhouette then swallowed the humanoid Soul in one fell swoop. Then the flying fish took over the job as Nolan''s new Soul. What had just happened was that Nolan awakened his Soul when he reached the Killing Consciousness State which corresponded to the Fifth Volume of the Killing Scripture. And after that was the Sixth Volume of the Killing Scripture, the Killing Embodiment State. Killing Concept State was the Fourth Volume of the Killing Scripture. The Killing Consciousness State allowed for Soul Awakening because it had to integrate itself into the Soul Sea then the Killing Embodiment State allowed for the fusion of Killing Consciousness to fuse with the Soul and become one. Now, Nolan''s Soul was the very Embodiment of Killing. The Flying Fish Soul still wasn''t done, after it became Nolan''s new Soul, it opened its mouth and vomited out litres of black liquid. This liquid then floated up and slowly enveloped the Flying Fish Soul. This process continued until the Flying Fish Soul was completely enveloped by the black liquid in a spherical ball of about a hundred metre radius. Now, only a black sphere could be seen if someone probed Nolan''s Soul. When this was done, finally, everything seemed to calm down and no more changes occurred. Nolan remained seated cross legged and absorbed the ant-man''s information on the Killing Scripture. |Killing Domain, how unexpected. It seems you''re more talented than I thought. Your status shouldn''t be low within my Demonic Sect since you''re a very valuable piece in this chessboard. A status of a Demonic Child should suffice.| thought the ant-man. Chapter 30: WHAT THE FUCK! Nolan didn''t know how much time had passed when he finally ended his meditation session. The ant-man had long ago finished reciting the Killing Scripture and was still lost in thoughts even after the scripture was no longer being recited. When he woke up this time, he felt something different about himself but couldn''t yet describe. He felt his body was very light, he felt that he could think faster and analyse information faster without burdening his mind. |You''re finally awake. Here, take this. It''ll activate once you register yourself in the sect. I expected that your realm would advance by a few stages after your Enlightenment but it didn''t budge an inch.| said the ant-man. ¡°Oh, that''s because my Meditation Art doesn''t depend on Enlightenment to improve but on hard work, pain and a glimpse into the netherworld.¡± said Nolan. The ant-man didn''t believe a word Nolan said because what he said made no sense. The first few Star Realm Stages only need one to accumulate energy to grow stronger but the later realms require comprehension in order to advance through the stages, energy alone is no longer enough. And for Nolan to say that his Meditation Art didn''t require comprehension was absolute bogus. |Anyway, there''s something I want to ask you before you leave. It''s not a compulsory question so it''s fine if you don''t want to answer.| ¡°Please ask.¡± |To you, what do you think is most important in a cooperation between two or more people? Especially a leader and follower, boss and subordinate type of relationship or cooperation.| ¡°Simple. Trust and loyalty. As long both people have and get this, we''re gonna get along just fine.¡± |Trust and loyalty. I''m satisfied with that answer, you can keep the storage artefact with your pet inside.| Nolan looked down and saw a ring on the ant-man''s palm and took it. He was holding a storage ring in his left hand and a token in his right hand. |You may leave now.| Nolan wanted to say something but in a blink of an eye, he found himself in an unfamiliar area. The sun was out and the sky was red, the clouds in the sky white. In front of him was a massive wall and a plaque written ¡®Demonic Sect¡¯ at the entrance gate. Two guards wearing armour stood on the sides of the gate. Nolan approached them with the token in hand, the ring was already on his finger. ¡°Hey guys, I''m the new recruit in the sect, does one of you mind giving me a tour of the place?¡± said Nolan. The guards wanted nothing more than to kick this naked pervert away but the way he appeared here made them tread carefully. The Star Watches on their wrists translated Nolan''s words so they could understand. Nolan was surprised by this and also activated his translator. ¡°Who are you and where do you come from?¡± asked one of the guards. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°As I''ve said before, I''m the new recruit, personally scouted by Elder Lalabu. Here''s my token.¡± answered Nolan. The guards were just that, guards, they didn''t know anyone by the name of Lalabu, their status was too low to know upper echelon people. They were about to kick Nolan away but stopped when they saw the token or rather the words written on it. Since they were written in a different language, Nolan didn''t know what they meant but just because he didn''t didn''t mean that it was the same for others. Plop! ¡°We apologise for our transgression Sire, please find it in your heart to forgive us.¡± ¡°Sire, please give us a chance to redeem ourselves. We truly didn''t mean to waste your time.¡± The two guards fell on their knees after seeing the token and started begging Nolan for mercy and forgiveness. ¡°Enough. Just take me inside and be my guide on the way.¡± ¡°Thank you Sire for your magnanimity, we shall guide you to the best of our abilities. Right this way Sire.¡± ¡­ Inside the Demonic Sect, it was quite different from what Nolan had imagined. The place was clean firstly, there were no hawkers or anything like that, along the way, he saw many pagodas, houses, altars. In short, the architectural style of this place was the same as that of mediaeval China. The guards led Nolan to a place with the tallest pagoda built parallel to one another and in the middle of that was a building that looked like the imperial house and was as tall as the two pagodas. Nolan saw the long flight of stairs and felt slightly uncomfortable. ¡°Sire, this is a far as we can take you. We''reforbidden from going any further.¡± said the guards. ¡°Good. You can leave now.¡± ¡°Thank you Sire.¡± The two guards then ran off at their greatest speed, afraid that Nolan might change his mind and make things difficult for him. Nolan wanted to enter the pagodas but the guards had led him all the way to the staircase which meant that what he wanted was here. Without a choice, Nolan started to climb up the stairs but he couldn''t but feel that something wasn''t quite right with these stairs but he didn''t know what exactly. After thinking for a while and not finding an answer, Nolan continued walking up the stairs that seemed to reach the heavens. ¡­ In one of the pagodas, there was a group of young fellas standing on the balcony and chatting happily. They wore dark red robes with a bull ant''s emblem on the chest, they carried swords on their waists. One of the guys from this group who was lost in thoughts suddenly noticed someone climbing up the tall stairs. ¡°Hey guys, come check this out. A pervert guy is climbing up the Steps Of Despair!¡± The youngsters rushed over when they heard what he said. ¡°Shit, it''s true! There really is a pervert climbing the Steps Of Despair!¡± ¡°Who is he?¡± ¡°I know him. It''s the guy we''re seeing for the first time whom we actually know nothing about.¡± answered someone sarcastically. These guys were on the lower floors on the left pagoda and they weren''t the only ones who''d been on the balcony to enjoy the view. Others who also saw the naked guy climbing up the stairs called their friends over to watch this spectacle. In no time, the left pagoda was filled with disciples wearing different coloured robes. Those on the lower floors wore dark red robes, those on the middle floors wore scarlet red robes and those on the higher floors wore blood red robes. The commotion the disciples on the left pagoda caused caught the attention of those on those in the right pagoda. A few middle aged men and geezers came out of their rooms. All of them wore black robes and exuded mistrust auras, incomparable to the disciples. These were the elders of the Demonic Sect. ¡®Who''s that pervert and who let him in?¡¯ Those were their first thoughts when they saw the person climbing up the stairs. Nolan on the other hand was focused on climbing up the stairs that he didn''t notice the audience he had attracted. ¡®At this rate, it''ll probably take hours before I reach the top. It''s best if I increase my speed.¡¯ thought Nolan as he started running at full speed up the stairs. Seeing the naked guy running up the stairs, the spectators on both pagodas were shocked by this. ¡°WHAT THE FUCK!" Chapter 31: Demonic Child The reason why everyone was shocked was because the Steps Of Despair weren''t ordinary stairs. Climbing up these stairs was extremely difficult because the stairs had many magic formations drawn on them that affect the Soul. The Steps Of Despair bypassed any protection one had on their Soul and conjure extremely realistic illusions. These illusions could at least turn you into an idiot if you don''t know your limit and when to quit and in the most extreme cases, your Soul will be pulled out and become part of Steps Of Despair, making it stronger. And here was the naked pervert running up the stairs like it was nothing. ¡°Just who is that guy?!¡± ¡°How the fuck should I know!¡± ¡°He''s about to reach the Grand Hall, let''s wait until he comes out. Maybe there''ll be information about him then.¡± ¡°Let''s wait then.¡± ¡­ In about fifteen to twenty minutes of running at full speed, Nolan finally reached the top of the stairs and he now stood in front of the doors of a massive hall with a plaque written ¡®Grand Hall¡¯. The doors were open so Nolan simply entered. Inside, the Grand Hall was extremely spacious, golden pillars with dragon carvings held up the place but except for that, there wasn''t anything else. No treasures, no paintings, no staff, nothing, just a huge spacious empty hall. ¡°Hello? Is anybody here?¡± asked Nolan. [Boy, what business brings you here?] spoke an elderly voice. ¡°I am a newly recruited disciple of the Demonic Sect. I was given this token and told that it would be activated here so that''s why I''m here.¡± said Nolan as he raised the token he was holding. The token flew out of Nolan''s grasp and into the ceiling where an old man was floating in a lotus position. He didn''t release any aura or pressure but Nolan could tell that the old man was very strong. [Where did you get this token from?] asked the elder. ¡°I don''t know that Lord''s name. But you can ask Elder Lalabu, he''s the one who brought me to that man. He looks half human and half ant, I don''t know if you know him.¡± [What?! Grand Elder Lalabu is back?! And he even took you to the Grand Supreme Elder who then gave you this token?!] ¡°I guess so.¡± The elder nodded in understanding, grabbed the token and took a deep breath. His body began to inflate like a balloon and when he reached his limit, the elder breathed out red flames that engulfed the token, burning it. Well,.although it looked like the token was being burned, the token was actually devouring the red flames as the letters written on it glowed one by one and it changed from an ordinary token to a bright red one. After it had devoured the elder¡¯s flames, the token flew towards Nolan at extreme speed that Nolan couldn''t follow its trajectory with his eyes. While flying towards him, it broke into two equal halves. One collided with Nolan''s chest and the other collided with his forehead. Before he could even react, he was sent flying and crashed into the hall walls, shaking his internal organs. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. When Nolan stood up, the token had completely disappeared and before he could intensely examine himself, the elder fell to the floor and knelt. [The High Elder Goik greets the Demonic Child.] said the elder while kneeling. Before Nolan could ask what he was talking about, he was flooded with a massive amount of information that his brain was overloaded to a point of shutting down. He lost consciousness right then and there. [Demonic Child! Demonic Child!] Elder Goik quickly rushed over to Nolan''s side. He then sent a wisp of his energy to check Nolan''s internal situation but everything was fine. He then placed his index finger on his forehead and sent a wisp of his Soul but something unexpected happened and he quickly retracted his finger but the damage had been dealt. He coughed a mouthful of blood and his face became pale, his breathing hurried and his eyes were tinged with red. [The Killing Scripture! I should have known better. He''s super weak yet was given the status of a Demonic Child.] ¡­ By the time Nolan woke up, he was lying on a comfy bed naked. As soon as he woke up, he felt a flood of information pouring into his brain but wasn''t about to lose consciousness again. He pressed his thumb on his forehead and forcefully stopped his brain from processing the information flooding his mind. He looked around the room but there was no one. Beside him was a small bell with words ¡®Ring Me¡¯ when translated into a language he could understand. He then rung the bell and a few maid servants entered the room in a hurry. ¡°Greetings Demonic Child. We were especially ordered by the High Elder to take care of all your needs so please feel free to order us as you like.¡± said the head maid. All the maid servants were extremely beautiful and had voluptuous bodies hidden under their uniforms. ¡°You''ll follow through with ANY command I give you?¡± he asked. ¡°Yes.¡± nodded the head maid as she blushed. Nolan was very tempted to order these gorgeous ladies to strip naked and join him in bed but that''s not how he did things. When someone stronger than him is involved, Nolan doesn''t take any chances, even in such favourable conditions. Plus, there were more serious issues that needed to be discussed. ¡°Tell me about my status as a Demonic Child but make it short as much as possible.¡± he said. ¡°As you wish.¡± answered the head maid as she explained Nolan''s status in the sect as a Demonic Child. First and foremost, his status was now above that of the Sect Leader. He could change the sect¡¯s rules without consulting anyone, kill anyone out of the sect but with valid reasons. He could take ten resources from the sect vault, absolutely free, he could issue sect missions and give rewards, order anyone in the sect to do stuff for him. He was also allowed to own a star system where all the resources there were his for the taking. All the sect''s Meditation Arts, Scriptures and Skill Books were available to him without restriction, he could borrow any sect''s treasure and there was no place he couldn''t go to, even if it was a female elder''s bathroom, he could enter unrestricted. The only thing he was required to do was take action whenever the sect needed him and everyone could escape in the face of danger except for him. When kidnapped, he isn''t allowed to leak the sect''s secret and should immediately kill himself in such a situation. He is the face of the sect and everything he does represents the sect so he should be mindful of his image. And these benefits weren''t exclusive to only one branch but all the Demonic Sects branches and headquarters. There were far more benefits than there were losses and hearing the head maid tell him all this, his heart couldn''t help but jump in joy. ¡®Who said one''s talent should be hidden?! Who said that only those who grow step by step in the shadows reach their full potential?! Weaklings!¡¯ After he obtained all the information about his status, the first place Nolan wanted to visit was the sect''s vault because there was a treasure he needed and hoped it was there. ¡°Take me to the sect vault¡­ but first, give me clothes to wear. I''ve been naked for far too long.¡± ¡°Yes, Demonic Child.¡± Chapter 32: Too Lenient Nolan walked behind the head maid with his hands in his pockets. He was wearing plain black swag pants, a white t-shirt, red sneakers and a red fox bomber coat with a hoodie. He''d cut off his dreadlocks and currently had a taper fade haircut. Of course he couldn''t forget the most important element for his drip, gold. He wore a diamond gold cuban chain, diamond earrings and five titanium rings. With this, his drip was complete. Of course these weren''t clothes from Earth. These clothes were very powerful defensive treasures made from special material, one of their functions was to turn into whatever design the wearer wanted and Nolan had chosen this. They were also waterproof, dust proof, tear proof, fireproof, cold resistance and other hidden features. The sect vault was actually underground and was heavily guarded by magic formations, traps and hidden guards lurking in the dark. ¡°Demonic Child, this is as far as I can take you. Please call for someone else to lead you deeper into the place until you reach the vault.¡± ¡°Mhm.¡± nodded Nolan as he continued walking forward. Whatever traps, magic formations or guards never activated or showed up. It was like everything he heard about this place was a lie but nonetheless he continued with his journey. After about fifteen minutes of walking freely, he finally reached the vault with a circular door with an eye scanner, fingerprint scanner, blood scanner and voice recognition functions. Nolan was about to do all of this but when he was about a meter away from the safe''s door, the door opened automatically and the programmed AI even greeted him. ¡°Mhm.¡± nodded Nolan as he entered the vault which was very big once inside. ¡®Space Magic or Space Manipulation?¡¯ thought Nolan to himself but he didn''t know anything about magic or manipulations. Inside the vault, countless treasures were placed on shelves, some on single tables, some were floating in the air and others placed on the vault walls. He didn''t know how big the Blazing Forge Guild Shop was but he guessed that it was as big as this place. There were all kinds of treasures, consumables, weapons, potions, pills, medicine, defensive treasures, plants, fruits, beast eggs, books, everything. ¡®Soul!¡¯ said Nolan internally and he was teleported to the Soul Section where Soul related treasures were placed. There were many useful treasures there, especially the Bell Artefact, a defensive treasure that blocks Soul Damage. There was also the Illusory Daggers that inflict only Soul Damage and Soul Damage is very hard to heal. But Nolan hadn''t come for all that, he came for something else. He looked at the fruits and plants and their description on the shelves and something did catch his eyes. It was a plant called Growth Grass. A kind of grass that takes root in one''s Soul, as this grass spreads out and grows, so does the Soul. As for how long these effects last, it''s unknown. Nolan didn''t waste time and grabbed the Growth Grass, opened his mouth and devoured it. After being swallowed, the Growth Grass appeared directly in his Soul, landed gently on the hundred meters black sphere and took root there. The black sphere that represented Nolan''s Soul began its expansion. From a hundred meters to a hundred and one, a hundred and two, a hundred and three,..., a hundred and fourty. The black sphere stopped expanding when it was about a hundred meters in radius. With the strengthening and growth of his Soul, Nolan was hit with euphoria the likes of which he''d never experienced before. It was more addictive than the pleasure of eating delicious meat like Tyler''s. ¡°Ahh¡­¡± he couldn''t help but moan in pleasure. The feeling lasted for a few minutes before it slowly faded away. ¡°It''s time to leave now that I got what I wanted. Wait¡­ maybe I can collect some stuff for Riri''s ceremony. Let me look around for a bit. ¡­ A few hours later, Nolan left the sect vault with a bright smile on his face. He''d gained a lot on this trip so how could he not be happy. Head maid hadn''t left this whole time and was waiting patiently for him outside. ¡°Demonic Child, you''re back.¡± ¡°Mhm, let''s go. Prepare a quiet place for me, there''s something I want to do. The place should be secluded and without many people, I don''t want to be disturbed during this time, got it?!¡± ¡°Yes Demonic Child, I''ll prepare it right away.¡± ¡­ ¡°Finally I''m done.¡± said Nolan as he wiped away his sweat. Half a day had passed since he told the head maid to prepare a quiet place for him and this was the place she chose. It was the living quarters of an Inner Elder but was kicked out by the head maid since it met Nolan''s requirements. Nolan was standing on a tall tree and checking if everything was perfect. Below him was a huge pentacle array formation. Each point on the circle had a head of a beast placed there. A Cyclops head, a cat-like beast head, an elephant-like beast head, a lizard''s head and a wolf''s head. Pentacle was taught this formation by an old friend of his who liked to perform sacrificial rituals and ceremonies. The formation had to be drawn using the blood of the person who was going to activate it and a tribute for better results had to be placed in each star point. Riri sat in the middle of the pentacle formation with her neck, wrists and thighs cut wide open but she was still alive. Blood poured from the wounds and into the pentacle formation. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°Riri, don''t disappoint me.¡± said Nolan coldly, making Riri extremely scared of the future. She held on tightly to Tyler''s head and calm her nerves. ¡°Let us start. Repeat after me.¡± [I call upon the devils. I call upon the demons. I call upon the evil spirits. I call upon the ghouls and ghosts. With my offerings, I sacrifice the One and Two in order to awaken the Third. I seek the forgotten path, I seek for a clear vision that sees through falsehoods. I seek for the Enlightened Mind that comprehends all. I seek for the Seen and Unseen, the Clear and Unclear, Clouded and Unclouded. I use the sacrifice in my hands¡­ THIRD EYE OPEN!] Riri repeated after Nolan and when she finished chanting, the pentacle formation glowed and released a beam of green light that pierced the skies. Dark clouds condensed as the cold winds blew, the temperature dropped drastically and the ground and trees were covered in ice. In a the sky, an enormous vertical slit pupil appeared, it looked around in interest before locking in on Riri. The heads on the star points were burned by black flames and disappeared. The pressure that Riri was experiencing was heavy, her body barely holding on through her will to succeed. From afar, many disciples and elders could clearly see the massive eye in the sky and those who stared at it for more than three seconds became idiots, those who stared at it for more than five seconds went insane and those who stared at it for more than ten seconds lost consciousness. Only those with powerful Souls or higher Star power were able to resist these effects but even they had to avert their gazes. Only people like the Core Elders, Sect Leader and High Elders could look at the huge eyeball without fear but as time went by, their Souls started to feel the suppression. ¡°What a powerful Soul Power!¡± ¡°This must be a wisp of an ancient being!¡± ¡°I sense a familiar aura, it''s the scent of the Nether Realm!¡± Some of the spectators made guesses while resisting the suppression force on their Souls. ¡­ The head that Riri was holding floated in the air on its own. A message was then sent directly into Riri''s mind but what it wanted Riri to do was something no one would be willing to do. [Decapitate Yourself.] is the message she got. She utterly and completely didn''t want to go ahead with this but thinking of her king''s words, she could only greet her teeth and go ahead with it. Roar! With a single swipe at her neck, her ugly head fell on the ground. Tyler''s head then floated towards her decapitated body and slowly descended on her headless neck. Boom! The eye in the sky released green energy that entered Riri''s body, after that, numerous blood vessels grew from the neck and attached to Tyler''s head. Once the head was completely attached to the neck, it started to deform and change. The milky white skin that glowed turned green, the ears became pointed, it became more feminine but less beautiful. It wasn''t just the human head undergoing the transformation but also the body. Riri grew breasts, her hips wider and her ass became bigger, her skin also became softer and gained more flesh. Her compass star imprint on her forehead emitted black ink that drew tattoos around the neck and chest, back, wrists and ankles. [OPEN!] The two compass star shaped eyes glowed together with the star imprint and a line appeared on her forehead. ROOOAAARRR!!! The line on her forehead split open and the compass imprint moved to occupy the empty space and turned into the pupil of the empty space. The dark clouds forcefully parted and allowed the innumerable stars to shine in the sky, a unique kind of energy coursed through Riri''s body and increased the Star Realm. From the Seventh Star Warrior to the Ninth Star Warrior. Then, from the Star Warrior Realm, she broke through to the Constellation Realm and awakened her star. BOOOOM!!! A searing heat bellowed out from her body and incinerated the ice in the surroundings, in a hundred meter radius, everything was burned to ashes. Riri wasn''t finished though, the energy the massive eye was releasing was very beneficial to her and greed grew in her heart. Dark green hair grew from her scalp, glistening in an eerie colour like it was created from an ominous galaxy. The stars in the sky grew brighter and brighter and emitted Star Energy that wasn''t absorbed into her body but circled around the eyeball in the sky, trapping it in place. The eyeball only realised its predicament when it was too late. [Since you''ve come, Stay!] said Riri in an eerie and dark voice. The eyeball collided with the barrier, causing cracks to appear but even more stars appeared in the sky and released their energy. The barrier not only healed but also shrank bit by bit. ¡°She''s trying to trap the eyeball!¡± ¡°Amazing! Simply amazing!¡± ¡°What a greedy goblin, but greed is good, very good!¡± Nolan could also tell what Riri was trying to do and he couldn''t help bursting out in laughter. ¡°Hahaha, Riri! Oh Riri! You''re bold and I like bold, hahaha!¡± The eyeball kept struggling to free itself but its efforts were futile. The amount of stars in the galaxy was just too many and with them working together, the eyeball which was nothing but a wisp didn''t stand a chance. She grabbed the eyeball trapped in Star Energy and placed it on her Third Eye. A strong pulling force was released by the Third Eye and completely absorbed the eyeball. Her strength started to increase by leaps and bounds again, from the First Constellation, it rose all the way to the Ninth Constellation Realm. BOOM! She then broke through and advanced to the Celestial Realm but the advancement was still ongoing. She broke through again and again and her advancements only stopped when she reached the peak of the Supernova Realm, a Ninth Star Supernova. ROOOAAARRR!!! ¡°Riri, very good! I''m glad you didn''t disappoint me, hahaha! I knew that you would succeed but I didn''t expect you to exceed all my expectations!¡± exclaimed Nolan as he approached Riri with enthusiasm. Riri turned around and looked at Nolan with a peculiar gaze. With her current power, she could tell that Nolan wasn''t a match for her. And she''d just subdued the powerful eyeball that helped her not just open her Third Eye but increase her strength by leaps and bounds. It''s goblin nature to fear the strong and bully the weak and currently, she was strong and her master was weak. [Kikikiki] ¡°Riri¡­¡± muttered Nolan as he stopped in his tracks. Riri then appeared in front of Nolan and fully activated her Third Eye, an invisible force flew from the eye and into Nolan''s consciousness. It appeared directly inside Nolan''s Soul Sea where the invisible light then turned into Riri''s appearance. She looked around and saw nothing but murky black water. [Is this inside Master''s Soul Sea, very unique indeed. I''m gonna turn you into my lifelong slave and let you lick my toes, kikiki.] Her hands formed multiple magic circles but before she could even proceed with whatever ploy she was trying to achieve, a fish with rows of ragged and sharp teeth appeared not far from her. [It seems I was too lenient with you. I hope this will help you to never forget your status as not only a mere goblin but also as a slave, my slave! If you dare pull such a stunt again in the future, I want you to think long and hard about it because¡­ I won''t be this merciful.] said the fish in a cold voice filled with Killing Intent. Before Riri could reply, the fish moved at speeds of light that Riri could only watch as she was devoured bit by bit, she experienced the feeling of being eaten alive. [ARGHHHH!!!] Back to the real world, Riri''s body kept quivering and shaking in fear. She screamed in fear and ran away from Nolan as fast and as far as she could. [MONSTER! MONSTER! MONSTER!] Chapter 33: Weird Stuff ¡°Donar welcomes the Demon Child to planet Tron. It''s an honour to serve the Demon Child.¡± said an old man as soon as Nolan appeared. Days had passed since Riri''s incident and Nolan had finally finished his preparations and was now ready to increase his strength and to do so, he needed energy, loads of energy. And so he had to go to a place with a lot of energy. The head maid had introduced Nolan to Meditation Caves where a Mana Gathering Magic Array was set up. The density of Mana inside the Meditation Cave was ten times more concentrated and dense than outside. And for Nolan, they''d chosen only the best Meditation Cave so one could only imagine how much of a meditation haven it was but Nolan didn''t like it. He couldn''t just sit in one place and just absorb the Mana, his Meditation Art also worked completely differently. And after asking around, Nolan found out about galaxies infested with Star Beasts. In fact, Star Beasts owned more than 2.5 million superclusters and could be found in all galaxies that make up the universe. Even in human territories, there would be Star Beasts sharing the planet with them. Planet Tron was one of those planets that were overpopulated with Star Beasts so these types of planets also acted as training grounds for inexperienced youngsters. Often Clans, Empires, Sects and other organisations used these kinds of planets to train their new recruits. Planet Tron mostly consisted of the Underground Shrew. A type of Star Beast with a lot of energy but very difficult to hunt down because of their defence and earth manipulation. Nolan had also chosen this place because of the Underground Shrews as their meat was known to be rich in energy. ¡°Donar, let''s go to my lodgings first.¡± ¡°As you command Demon Child.¡± ¡­ Nolan found himself looking at a camping tent but he had learned not to look down on things with simple appearances. As he had expected, the inside of the camping tent was much bigger than its appearance. It looked no different from a double story house, there was the kitchen, two bathrooms, four bedrooms, a living room and a dining room. ¡°Except for the Star Beasts, are there other threats that I should be aware of in case we encounter them?¡± asked Nolan as they sat comfortably in the living room. Donar didn''t answer immediately but looked at the cloaked figure kneeling in front of Nolan and Nolan had his legs on her back like she was a table. This cloaked figure was of course Riri, Nolan had given her a cloak after her transformation because her body revealed a lot. ¡°Don''t worry Demonic Child, with me around, no trouble can never befall your esteemed self.¡± said Donar. ¡°Donar, answer the question.¡± ¡°Yes Demonic Child, other threats that you may encounter, I think would be other humans. When a rare and powerful Underground Shrew is spotted, competition can get bloody sometimes.¡± ¡°Rare and powerful?¡± ¡°Well yes, Underground Shrews are different with their ranks.¡± Donar then began to explain. Star Beasts were categorised by their rarity and the rarer a Star Beast was, the more powerful it was. Star Beasts and treasures like weapons, plants and other items had the same ranking system. Lowly, Common, Uncommon, Rare, Unique, Epic, Legendary, Mythical, Ancient and Divine.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. These ranks for Star Beasts correlated to the star realms of humans, for example, a Lowly Beast was the same as a Star Warrior, a Common Beast the same as a Constellation Realm Warrior, and so on and so forth. ¡°Interesting. So how strong are you exactly? I was only told that you''d be my guardian while I''m on this planet.¡± ¡°I''m at the Ninth Nebula Realm but I can jump levels and fight someone at the Propostar Realm to a draw. If I go all out, I can even injure them.¡± ¡°Good. Before we start hunting, tell me everything you know about the Underground Shrew. Also, take me to an underground pathway dug by an Underground Shrew. It doesn''t matter if the Underground Shrew deserted it a long time ago.¡± ¡­ Donar and Riri found themselves on the Underground catacombs of the Underground Shrew. Nolan had ordered the two to guard him while he investigated the place. This has been going on for days now. When it becomes dark outside, the trio returns to the camping site and continues tomorrow. These few days that they''d been with Nolan, they matched him doing all sorts of weird stuff like licking the ground, looking at the same spot for hours, jumping around like a rabbit, flapping his hands like a bird, making weird and loud noises. They watched all of this happen and kept their mouths shut. Today was the seventh day and Nolan did new weird stuff. He rolled on the ground like a person on fire and crawled on the ground like a worm. ¡°Damon Child, what exactly is it that you''re doing? It''s been days, shouldn''t we start hunting already.¡± Donar finally couldn''t take it anymore and asked Nolan for answers. ¡°Can''t you see that I''m studying the enemy, what do you think I''m doing, playing around. There''s a phrase on Earth that goes; ¡®Know yourself and your enemies and you shall achieve victory in all battles.¡¯ and that''s exactly what I''m doing here, studying the enemy.¡± answered Nolan in irritation. ¡°Now, let''s go do an experiment. I''m still lacking some information on the Underground Shrew.¡± ¡°Yes, Demonic Child.¡± ¡­ Donar found himself fighting an Underground Shrew with his bare hands, fortunately, it was only an Uncommon Underground Shrew, very weak when compared to Donar. Donar hadn''t wanted to fight this smallfry Underground Shrew but Nolan insisted that he do it. Riri was obviously weaker than him and when he asked why she couldn''t fight this weak creature, Nolan told him that Riri was physically weak and he wanted to witness a physical fight with a shrew. He wanted to protest but a cold glance from Nolan shut him up and here we are. Donar didn''t just have to fight the weak shrew, he had to prolong the fight for as long as possible, a one shot kill attack was prohibited. Donar held himself back for as long as he could against the ferocious shrew but after hours of fighting, Donar slipped up and ended up killing the beast in a single punch. ¡°Demon Child¡­ it wasn''t on purpose.¡± he said pitifully. ¡°It''s fine. I''ve already collected all the information that I need. Tomorrow we start hunting for real so be well rested because you two are gonna work very hard.¡± said Nolan in a mischievous smile. ¡­ Early in the morning the next day, the trio left the camp with the tent. Nolan led them through the rocky environment with barely any trees and plants growing there. Nolan''s journey was longer than expected. The trip took about three days and they had to set camp a few times. Along the way, Nolan would suddenly stop walking, sniff and lick the ground then change directions. This happened quite often during the trip and the duo could only watch. If the Demonic Sect knew the things Nolan did while on this planet, they''d be so embarrassed that they''d probably deny him being part of their sect. ¡°We''re here.¡± said Nolan after a three day trip. He then took out a shovel from his storage ring and started digging. ¡°Demonic Child, how about I simply punch a hole on this spot, it will be much quicker.¡± said Donar but Nolan refused. ¡°Are you an idiot! If we did that then we''d alert the Underground Shrews and my plans would be ruined.¡± said Nolan as he continued to dig with the shovel. ¡°At least let me do the digging, it''s demeaning for someone of your stature to do such labour work.¡± Nolan just ignored him and continued to dig until the ground collapsed. The hole was connected to the pathways of the Underground Shrews. ¡°Riri, use Water Magic to flood this entire underground system.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± said Riri in a soft voice. [Water Spell: The Great Flood!] A massive ball of water was conjured by Riri using her internal energy, then she threw the water ball into the pathway. The water ball immediately spread out like a busted water pipe. The water spread in all directions and seemed limitless because it just kept pouring out from the water ball. Soon the water rose from the pathway and spilled out from the dug up hole. ¡°Prepare yourselves, they''re coming!¡± shouted Nolan as he took out a hoverboard and floated in the air. Di di di di di di! The ground shook like a minor earthquake was about to strike. BOOOOM!!! Chapter 34: Instructions Countless Underground Shrews of different sizes rushed out of the collapsed hole in droves. Donar and Riri were overwhelmed by this huge number of Underground Shrews, especially Donar, who had been living on this planet for many years but hadn''t seen such a large number of Underground Shrews ever. ¡®Just how did he do it?!¡¯ In Donar''s mind, it didn''t make sense. In his opinion, all Nolan did was play around in the tunnels and now he''d tracked the Underground Shrews all the way to the source, it truly didn''t make sense. ¡°Donar, Riri, don''t let even a single one escape, I want all of these Underground Shrews dead!¡± shouted Nolan from above. Receiving the command, Donar resolved himself to do his best in order to impress the Demonic Child and gain favour from him. We waved his hand and a bone whip with a snake¡¯ skull appeared in his hand. Whop-eesh! With a single swing from the bone whip, many Underground Shrews met their demise and Donar just kept swinging and swinging, reaping many lives of the Underground Shrews. Whop-eesh! Whop-eesh! Whop-eesh! The Underground Shrews coming out of the hole were the weak Lowly, Common and Uncommon rank beasts. Riri on the other hand used ice magic to pierce through the Underground Shrews trying to run away. Both of them were very efficient in killing the shrews and didn''t let a single one escape. Much bigger Underground Shrews came out and these ones had grown some intelligence because they didn''t just helplessly come out of the water filled hole to be killed, they attacked as soon as they came out. Sharp spikes made from the earth were conjured from the ground as they tried to pierce Donar to death. Donar jumped up and sent a powerful whiplash that slammed hard on the spikes and destroyed them. Riri was the same, she suddenly lost her balance, not because she had tripped but because she stepped on empty space, lost her balance and almost fell to the pit of spikes that appeared on the ground. Watching from above, Nolan was disappointed by the two''s execution of power. They absolutely didn''t know how to use their power, especially Riri who was fighting for the first time after gaining her current power. It wasn''t just Rare Rank Underground Shrews but also Unique Rank Underground Shrews. Donar continued with his killing spree but he wasn''t annihilating the shrews like he had been doing the weaker one''s and those escaping, Riri was having a hard time trying to stop them. ¡°Donar, that''s not how you fucking use a whip! A whip is especially designed to control beasts! Control the shrews into running in a single direction which is towards Riri. And Riri, these are fucking Earth element creatures, use either the Water element or the Wood element to kill them!¡± said Nolan. Donar did as Nolan instructed, he didn''t kill the shrews but instead struck the ground in front of them. Whop-eesh! The cracking sound of the whip made the shrews very fearful and changed directions. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Whop-eesh! Whop-eesh! Whop-eesh! The shrews were quickly controlled by Donar and ran in a straight line path towards Riri who had been preparing a powerful spell. [4th-tier Ice Spell: Slippery Road!] [4th-tier Wood Spell: Vines Net!] [5th-tier Spell: Sharp Water!] The ground first turned into slippery ice, the shrews lost their balance and slided towards the second trap Riri had set up. Many vines lay in ambush on a hole on the ground and once all the shrews slided inside the vines, the vines turned into a net that caught them all. Then, a huge water ball was conjured by Riri and trapped all the shrews inside it where they were cut to pieces by the high pressure water that was very sharp. ¡°Now use Lightning magic to paralyze the Underground Shrews that have yet to escape from the overflow hole. Remember, your spell should be powerful because the shrews about to come out are a level above your Epic Rank Underground Shrews!¡± 5th-tier Spells were Riri''s current limit since Spells also correlated to one''s star realm. Hearing Nolan''s words, Riri''s eyes under her hood focussed as she opened her Third Eye. [6th-tier Spell: Lightning Bombardment!] Blue lightning crackled on her palms as she pointed at the overflow hole and dozens of lightning bolts came into contact with the lightning and disappeared into it. Whoosh! Enormous Underground Shrews floated above the hole and Donar quickly dealt with them with his bone whip that wasn''t just fast but also extremely sharp. The killing went on for about thirty minutes before everything came to a conclusion. ¡°Donar, infuse your consciousness into your bone whip and use it to check if there are any shrews left deep inside underground.¡± said Nolan. ¡°You can do that!¡± said Donar while following Nolan''s instructions. When his consciousness was infused into the whip, he felt like the whip had not only become a part of his body but also a second field of vision. The bone whip then became longer but thinner which was a complete surprise to Donar. He''d been wielding this whip for a long time but didn''t know about any of the functions that Nolan had told him about. ¡°How is this possible?!¡± ¡°Of course it''s possible. Your whip is made from the bones of a snake and all snakes can become longer by stretching their bones and muscles. Now quickly search for shrews that are dead or paralysed inside and pull them out.¡± ¡°Yes!¡± Donar''s bone whip was like a living snake as it entered the hole and swam very fast like a snake. Donar could even see everything there like he was personally there. The whip travelled far distances but didn''t find anything and just when he was to pull it back, he caught sight of a shrew stuck in a hole on the wall. The snake skull bit the shrew''s leg and coiled around it, then Donar pulled the shrew out like a fishline pulling out the fish that bit the bait. The shrew that was pulled out was quickly dealt with by Riri and everything had truly ended. ¡­ The corpses of the Underground Shrews piled up into a small mountain and made Nolan very happy. He then collected the shrews into his storage ring and the duo didn''t say anything. They knew that if it weren''t for Nolan giving them command on how to quickly deal with the shrews, the battle wouldn''t have ended so quickly and easily. It''s a well known fact that a Unique Rank Underground Shrew is capable of manipulating earth in a span of thousands of kilometres. In some places on Tron planet, there were tall mountains that weren''t naturally formed but created by the powerful skill used by the Underground Shrew. [6th-tier Skill: Earth Spikes!] If not for Nolan, the duo would have maybe had the chance of experiencing this powerful skill that could terraform the environment like it was clay. And not just from one shrew but many shrews. ¡°Demonic Child, do you specialise in using the whip? I beg the Demonic Child to bless me with more pointers, I''m willing to pay for your pointers of course.¡± said Donar sincerely. ¡°No, I don''t specialise on the whip but I am proficient in it. As your pointers, there''s no need to pay since I''ll be giving them for free. Just do your best when the time comes.¡± ¡°I thank the Demonic Child for his generosity.¡± ¡°Since we''ve had a successful trip, it''s time to leave this place. Donar, lead us to the closest city from here.¡± ¡°As you wish, Demonic Child.¡± Chapter 35: Garry Donar had led Nolan and Riri to the biggest city in the Tron World, Megatron City. There were hawkers, merchants, scouts and all kinds of people, in short, this place was bustling with activity. Donar led them along the lively streets of the hustle and bustle, all the way to a restaurant called Delicious Taste. This was the best restaurant in Tron and it didn''t just sell delicious food but also bought beast carcasses in order to make these delicacies. Many adventurers and hunters came here when there was meat to sell. The couple running this place weren''t stingy with the money and bought meat at fair prices. The only downside of this establishment was the sitting place. Instead of sitting inside the restaurant, the sitting area was set up outside and not in a fancy and high-end manner. Circular stone tables that could accommodate eight people per person were placed on a huge open space, under the heat of the sun. And coming here at night wasn''t possible because the couple closed the restaurant when dusk approached. It was like this restaurant hated its diners and wasn''t afraid to show them. When Donar came here with Nolan, many tables were occupied, delicacies filled the tables and everyone ate without talking. The diners savoured every bite as the food was just so delicious. Nolan chose a table to sit down and Donar went inside the restaurant to order. In fact, this was the only time that a customer was allowed into the restaurant. Nolan and Riri sat down and Nolan looked around in interest. All the people here were very strong, the weakest ones were at the Nova Realm while the strongest, Nolan couldn''t see through. Donar returned after five minutes and had already placed an order and their food would be brought to them very soon. ¡°So tell me, why are we sitting literally in the heat? Why don''t the owners create some sort of shade for us?¡± asked Nolan. ¡°Well, I heard that the dining place was inside the restaurant once upon a time but due to people constantly fighting and destroying furniture, the owners had had enough and moved the place here. But this didn''t seem to be enough because they then uprooted all the trees and only left an empty open space.¡± The duo chatted happily while Riri listened from the side. And time quickly passed, a middle aged woman wearing a dress and an apron came to their table holding a huge platter and a small platter of food. The big platter of food was for Donar and Nolan while the small one was for Riri. ¡°Greetings gentlemen¡­ and lady, here''s your food. Please enjoy.¡± said the middle aged woman before leaving. Nolan and Donar dug in before the middle aged man woman even left, the food was juicy, tasty and extremely delicious. Everything served was cooked to perfection, the meat, the vegetables, the gravy, everything was perfect. And just like everyone else, the duo also ate in silence, Riri also enjoyed her food in silence. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡­ ¡°That was absolutely delicious!¡± ¡°No wonder they named the restaurant Delicious Taste, it truly lives up to its name. I''ve dined here a few times but the taste hits differently every time.¡± Nolan and Donar chatted happily while drinking wine that the restaurant sold. This bottle of wine was quite cheap because Donar bought wine that was within Nolan''s limits, meaning, wine that Constellation Realm warriors could drink. While they were chatting, someone suddenly came and sat with them. ¡°Hi guys, I hope you don''t mind me sitting here. All the tables are fully occupied and only yours has a place to sit.¡± said the person. It was a middle aged man wearing tattered clothes, his face was dirty and his teeth were yellow. The man was probably a beggar. Nolan looked at the man with a peculiar gaze, Riri remained silent, her expression couldn''t be seen under the hood and Donar had an angry and disgusted look. He was angry because this beggar first sat down before asking for permission to sit and he was disgusted because the man was a beggar. He was about to send him away but Nolan stopped him. Nolan then poured a drink for the beggar and gave it to him. This was Nolan''s friendly gesture. ¡°You look tired and thirsty, have a drink. Donar, go order some food for my new friend, hurry up.¡± said Nolan. The beggar accepted the wine Nolan gave him and gulped it all down before he wiped his mouth. The beggar then gave Nolan a deep look before sighing. ¡°You don''t look like a good person no matter how hard you try to hide it so why aren''t you acting according to the script?¡± asked the beggar as he took the wine bottle and chucked it down. ¡°And what makes you say that? We''ve just met.¡± said Nolan with a smile. ¡°That girl over there. You''ve been secretly eyeing her the moment you came here. I gotta say, she does have some ¡®good¡¯ qualities. And that guy over there, you''ve been eyeing that little girlfriend of his too, correct me if I''m wrong.¡± ¡°You watch too many movies. But I have to admit, you have sharp eyes. Isn''t it a villain''s nature to want to bully others? I chose them as my targets but unfortunately, my strength is still lacking so I can''t do anything. And you are wrong about one thing, I never hide my character. As for your script, it''s cliche, boring and makes me look stupid so I don''t even bother following it.¡± ¡°Interesting. How is the script boring, if you don''t mind me asking.¡± said the beggar. ¡°It''s very simple. Although I don''t know the exact star realms of everyone here, I''m 100% sure that all of them are weaker than my bodyguard. I can see it from his eyes that he doesn''t take anyone here seriously, game recognises game after all. So even though there are many empty seats, you still chose my seat purposefully to enrage me and a conflict would arise. You''d fight against Donar and win, then you''d run away and I would lose face. Then, in order to regain my face, I''d send more lackies and you''d defeat all of them. I would then try to play dirty by targeting your family and friends, only to find out that most of them have powerful backgrounds. This feud would then continue for years till the day you come to kill me. I say the script is boring and makes me look stupid because if you''re targeting me then it means you have the capabilities to back up your actions.¡± ¡°Talking from experience?¡± ¡°Yes, you guys are like cockroaches, very difficult to kill since something always happens and you somehow manage to not only live to fight another day but obtain something that would boost your strength. I learned about you guys the hard way, hehe.¡± ¡°Hahaha, you''re very interesting. Are your targets still alive or what? People like us are quite vengeful after all, holding grudges for the smallest slight.¡± ¡°That''s why I said ¡® very difficult¡¯ and not ¡®impossible¡¯ to kill.¡± ¡°HAHAHA! You''re very interesting my friend. My name is Garry.] ¡°Nolan.¡± Chapter 36: Secrets ¡°So Garry, why exactly did you approach me? I doubt it was only to have some fun with your cliche script.¡± said Nolan. Donar returned and sat down without saying anything. Nolan and Garry also didn''t pay attention to him. ¡°I have a great opportunity for you. I can tell that you came to Tron planet not to play around but to hunt for the Underground Shrews. I''m looking for teammates to go with me to a certain place. This place is infested with Underground Shrews. You can have all the Underground Shrews from the Unique Rank and below. I only want the Epic Rank Underground Shrews. So, what do you say?¡± said Garry. Nolan was certainly interested in this kind of deal. He''d just dealt with an Underground Shrews source not long ago and someone had located another one. ¡°I''m certainly interested but there''s something I''m curious about. Why do you only want the Epic Rank Underground Shrews, what''s so special about them?¡± asked Nolan. Since he already had Epic Rank Underground Shrews, it wouldn''t hurt knowing some hidden secrets about them. ¡°Well¡­ this is actually secret information that hasn''t been verified yet but it''s said that if one gathers enough cores from the Underground Shrews, they might have a chance of obtaining Earth Element Affinity of the highest grade or upgrade even one''s affinity grade by a grade or two, even by a small level is enough. Then, with his affinity, you can contract an Earth Spirit.¡± said Garry. ¡°What?!¡± Donar exclaimed because if this piece of information was true then it truly a rare opportunity. Affinities were divided into five grades; Low, Mid, High, Peak and Extreme. ¡°Donar, explain.¡± said Nolan and Donar nodded and explained. It seems that having an affinity for something wasn''t enough, the grade of affinity also played a major role in the person''s improvement and strength. For example, the rate of improvements with a Low Grade Affinity would be very slow. It would take longer to master Spells and Skills, much slower absorption rate of Mana of the same element and Affinity Suppression. Affinity Suppression is when two parties have an Affinity for the same element but their affinity grades are different. The one with a higher affinity grade can override the control over the element and render the one with a lower affinity grade completely incapacitated and vulnerable. Affinity Grade was very important and could become a key component of winning in a life and death battle. As for Earth Spirits, it wasn''t just them who existed, there existed Spirits for all elements. Spirits lived in a place called the Spirit Realm, not that they couldn''t be found in other places but their home and source was the Spirit Realm. And the way to contract one was to perform a ritual, depending on your Affinity and Affinity Grade, you could contract a weak Spirit to a very powerful Spirit, it all depended on your talent. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Once a Spirit is contracted, it can boost the power of one''s Spell or Skill by many folds, it all depended on how powerful your Spirit was. The reason why Garry didn''t mention the Legendary Rank Underground Shrews was because they were just so powerful that no one dared to even think about encountering them. ¡°I''m interested. Where''s the location of that source that you''re talking about? We can set off immediately if it''s close.¡± said Nolan. ¡°As insurance, I won''t give you the exact location of the source but the general location. It''s west of here, a trip that will take about half a month to a month depending on the speed.¡± answered Garry. Donar and Nolan looked at each other with a knowing look because that''s the direction they came from. So they were 90% certain that he was talking about the place they just raided. Of course these interactions were done secretly in order not to alert Garry, they looked at each other like they were considering going or not when in actual truth, they weren''t. ¡°West of here. I''m afraid we can''t go with you. I have terrible luck whenever the west direction is mentioned. One time I caught a cold just thinking about the west so yeah, find other people.¡± said Nolan bluntly. Garry wanted to persuade him with more benefits because he assumed Nolan wanted more benefits for himself, otherwise why would he spout such a load of crap. But Nolan vehemently rejected all his offers and Garry could only give up and try his luck someplace else. The food was brought over and Garry wolfed it down like a hungry beast, making a mess. After a short while, Garry had finished eating and was about to leave when he remembered something. ¡°I remember you said that you''ve dealt with people like me before. Are you interested in making extra cash as you travel the world?¡± asked Garry. ¡°What do you have in mind?¡± asked Nolan. ¡°This is a top secret that I rarely share with anyone. I''m actually a member of the Assassination Guild and we worship the Assassin God. Are you interested in joining?¡± ¡°Assassin Guild? I heard it''s a very powerful organisation in the Human Domains(1) and can influence even empires. What status do you hold in your guild?¡± asked Nolan. ¡°Not a very high status. My status is low because I''m not active in the guild. Apart from recruitments from time to time, I rarely complete any guild missions so my status remains low, why do you ask?¡± ¡°Garry my friend, I''m happy to tell you that I also have an opportunity for you. If you can take over the Assassin Guild or hold enough power and authority to influence them, I''ll reward you with a supercluster that you alone will lord over. This is my contact information. Call me when you''ve made your decision.¡± said Nolan as he stood up to leave. Garry was shocked by what Nolan had just told him. Although the Assassin Guild was spread throughout the Human Domains, it didn''t even own a single galaxy. Not just that, the guild moved in the shadows like rats. And now, he was being offered an entire supercluster that he alone had ownership of. ¡°Wait, can you tell me who you are exactly? I can discuss this deal with my master if your words hold credibility.¡± said Garry. ¡°You can come to the Demonic Sect and look for me if you have any questions. Show them this token and you''ll be taken directly to me.¡± answered not Nolan but Donar as he gave Garry a token. Garry was well versed in the universal language so he could read the words written on the token. ¡°Oh my goodness! How can it be you guys?!¡± exclaimed Garry as he almost ran away from fear. How could he not be shocked after seeing the token? He did assume that Nolan came from a prestigious background because all evil people had strong backers behind them for some reason. But never did he expect the man''s background to be so powerful. ¡°It seems you know some secrets about us but the offer still stands, a supercluster in exchange for your guild. What will it be, I wonder.¡± said Nolan. The token only had Chapter 37: Nebula Realm Nolan was currently sitting cross legged inside a Meditation Cave with corpses of Underground Shrews piled up around him. The ones closest to him were the Common and Uncommon rank beasts. He grabbed hold of one of the corpses and started munching on it raw. Blood spewed and sprayed the walls but he didn''t care and kept eating the corpse. His teeth were so strong that he could break even the bones with a single bite. He chewed on the bones until they were powder and swallowed them. Nolan definitely wasn''t a wasteful person so he ate everything. After he finished eating the first one, he ate the second, the second, he just kept eating. When the meat of the Underground Shrews reached his stomach, it was quickly digested and turned into pure energy that Nolan could control. This energy then seeped into Nolan''s bones and once the bones were filled with energy, all of them broke into tiny pieces and because Nolan was holding them in place using energy, they didn''t scatter. His skeletal system healed itself at a quick pace and fully healed in a couple of minutes, Nolan filled his bones with energy again and broke them. This cycle repeated itself over and over again. Nolan''s actions were completely inhumane and straight out torturous. Breaking one''s bones is extremely painful but doing it over and over again was even scarier. And the guy was sitting cross legged with a calm expression like he wasn''t in pain. The reason why Nolan was doing this was because of his Meditation Art. He called it the Nolan Meditation Art but its true name was the Hellish Evolution Art because of the hellish stuff one had to go through to cultivate this Art. The Hellish Evolution Art currently had five levels since Nolan only deduced five levels. The first level was the Body Level where the bones, blood and organs were refined. The second level was the Mana Organs Level, Mana Veins strengthening, Mana Heart expansion and condensing the Mana Soul. All of these were important components for one to grow stronger and be invincible in the same realm. Mana Veins are the organs that transport and carry from the heart to the body, a Mana Heart as its name suggest is a heart that contains Mana. The bigger the Mana Heart, the more Mana it''s able to contain which is a huge benefit. And finally the Mana Soul. Although intangible, it''s very important because it represents the third aspect of the body. Body, Spirit/Mana and Soul. These three components make up all living things. With a Mana Soul, Nolan could then prepare to awaken his element by giving the Mana Soul the attributes of the element he wants. This wasn''t something possible using normal Meditation Arts but Nolan''s Meditation Art wasn''t normal at all. The third level is the Elemental Level where once the element of choice is awakened, it''s condensed into a crystal and bathes in the Mana Heart, giving the Mana an elemental attribute. The fourth level is the Soul Level where it includes the Soul Body fusion, Heart Body fusion and Element Body fusion. The Soul Body fusion allows Nolan to have both physical and soul damage which is very important when fighting those of the Soul Star Path because their Souls can escape from the body and possess another one when in danger. But when facing Nolan, that wouldn''t be possible. The Heart Body fusion allows for the increase in energy capacity but not just that, the body can become the heart and the heart can become the body. Meaning that if the heart has become the body, he won''t die when his heart is destroyed and if the body becomes the heart, an even greater amount of energy can be stored. The Elemental Body fusion is effective when fighting those in the Element Star Path because all Spells are greatly boosted in strength and power to inflict more damage.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. And finally the fifth level, the Fusion Level which is about the fusion of the first four levels to create a powerful entity without any weaknesses in all three Star Paths. ¡­ Nolan''s bones broke and healed until they couldn''t break anymore so Nolan could finally focus on his Mana Organs. The reason why he only repeated the process of breaking bones only and not the blood refinement and organs strengthening was because strong bones were a necessity. He didn''t need extremely pure blood or strong organs since they would slowly become useless. Only the bones could give him lifelong benefits like weapons being unable to cut through his body. After he was done strengthening his bones, he finally focussed on strengthening his Mana Veins. He devoured many Underground Shrews to replenish his energy and started the Mana Organs Training. Lots of energy filled the weak Mana Veins and ruptured them. He vomited blood and his face became pale and his eyes bloodshot. It took slightly longer for the Mana Veins to heal, about thirty minutes and after they''d healed, he ruptured them again and repeated this process like he did with his bones. ¡­ A month later, a phenomenon of someone reaching the Celestial Realm occurred. A total of twenty crimson stars glowed in the night sky very brightly. ¡°Oh my goodness! Those are Red Stars!¡± ¡°How can someone only have Red Stars!¡± ¡°This is a true genius of the Demonic Sect, a true demon in fact!¡± ¡­ The months later, another phenomenon occurred in the sky where a total of thirty Red Stars appeared in the sky. They shone almost as brightly as the sun. Even those from afar could see the crimson light of the thirty stars in the sky. ¡°Someone has advanced to the Nova Realm!¡± ¡°Forget the realm, look at the stars! Thirty Red Stars!¡± ¡°Are you fucking kidding me! Who the fuck is responsible for this phenomenon!¡± ¡­ Eight months later, yet another phenomenon occurred but this one was on a much grander scale. Forty Red Stars shone in the sky, turning night into day, changing the colour of the black sky crimson. These stars shone as brightly as the Sun, completely on par with the Sun''s brilliance. ¡°Forty Red Stars! I''m assuming this is the guy from last time.¡± ¡°Amazing! Amazing!¡± ¡°He or she is not someone to be messed with. He or she is very dedicated to their path to only have Red Stars.¡± ¡­ Two years later, another phenomenon occurred where a total of fifty Red Stars appeared in the sky glowing brilliantly. These Red Stars after shining so brilliantly exploded into red clouds and fused to become one big red gas cloud that looked like a nebula. ¡°Holy Shit! Such a fast improvement!¡± ¡°I''ve never seen such a thing in my life!¡± ¡°Is it a hidden disciple of the sect?!¡± ¡­ Inside the Meditation Cave, Nolan sat alone in a meditation position. All the corpses that he had placed around him were all gone. Only dry blood stains remained on the floor and walls. He''d advanced to the Nebula Realm about a year and a half ago and was now in the peak of the Nebula Realm. He slowly stood up, the sound of bones crackling from stretching sounded out. Nolan had remained in the room for years and didn''t move much so his body was very stiff. He walked towards the door which opened automatically and left the place. Fortunately, it was night time when he left the cave or the sunlight would have affected his eyes. Outside the Meditation Cave, Donar and Riri were already waiting for him. When they saw him, the two of them quickly knelt on the floor. ¡°I greet the Demonic Child, congratulations to the fruitful seclusion!¡± ¡°I greet my Master, congratulations to the fruitful close door training.¡± ¡°Mhm. Stand up.¡± ¡°Thank you, Demonic Child!¡± When Donar looked at Nolan, he could feel vast energy and power hidden within him. The power he felt made his hairs stand on end. Riri only felt that her master had become even more terrifying. ¡°Let''s go back to the main sect. There''s something I have to do there.¡± said Nolan. ¡°Yes Master.¡± nodded Riri and they walked away. ¡°Demonic Child, please wait!¡± shouted Donar while running after the two. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°If it''s not too much to ask, I''d like to become the Demonic Child''s butler. I''ve learned everything a servant needs to know, I promise I won''t disappoint you!¡± begged Donar. Nolan didn''t respond immediately but instead looked at Donar deeply. ¡°If you''re not afraid of death then let''s go. Don''t regret this decision because there is no turning back.¡± ¡°Thank you Demonic Child.¡± Chapter 38: Army Nolan was currently sitting inside the Grand Hall of the Demonic Sect, this was the same hall that he lost consciousness in after he met the old man. Sitting opposite him was that same old man he''d met previously. The old man offered him tea but he refused it, at such a young age, how could he be drinking tea so the old man offered him some juice. ¡°So, Demonic Child, why have you come to visit me? I doubt you''re here just to have a casual conversation.¡± ¡°Yes, as expected of High Elder Goik, you saw right through me. I''m actually here for a very important matter that I think I might need your help with.¡± said Nolan respectfully. Even though he held a higher status than the old man, he was still respectful because of how strong he was. The hierarchy of the Demonic Sect went like this; Outer Disciples, Inner Disciples, Core Disciples, Outer Elders, Inner Elders, Core Elders, High Elder, Grand Elder and finally the Supreme Elders. Outer Disciples were at the Star Warrior and Constellation Realm, Inner Disciples at the Celestial and Nova Realms, Core Disciples were at the Supernova and Nebula Realm, Outer Elders were at the Nebula Realm, Inner Elders at the Propostar Realm, Core Elders Elders at the Red Giant Star Realm, High Elders at the White Dwarf Star Realm and Grand Elders at the Black Dwarf Star Realm. Anything above that like the ant-man Nolan had come into contact with wasn''t mentioned in the memories he had obtained from the token in his heart and mind. While in seclusion, Nolan had looked for the token inside his body but couldn''t find it no matter where he looked. ¡°What matter does the Demonic Child want help with? Just say the word and I''ll be happy to help.¡± said High Elder Goik. ¡°I plan on waging war with my home planet. I want that galaxy for myself so I''m gonna need an army.¡± said Nolan solemnly. ¡°You''ve reached the realm to qualify to command an army, I don''t see why not. By the way, what''s the name of your galaxy and home planet?¡± asked the elder. ¡°The galaxy is called the Milky Way Galaxy and my home planet is called Earth. I''ve chosen my home as my base of operation.¡± ¡°The Milky Way Galaxy?! Earth?! That''s where you come from?!¡± exclaimed the elder. ¡°Yes, have you been there or have you heard of it before from someone?¡± asked Nolan with confused eyes. ¡°That place is not simple. Not simple even in the slightest bit. We went there once to look for the Grand Elder but as soon as our steps entered the Milky Way Galaxy, our strength was sealed completely and we could only use the strength of the Red Giant Star Realm. The closer we got to Earth, the more our strength was sealed and by the time we floated outside it, we could only use the strength of the Propostar Realm. So we decided to leave that place alone since entering meant our strength being completely sealed.¡± explained the elder. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°What?! Is that really the case?! But then how can the other races be able to dominate on Earth when their strength should''ve been sealed?¡± ¡°Oh that. It''s quite simple actually. Using Gates, Towers or Dungeons, these people challenge the Earthlings. If the Earthlings win then they''d get a boost in strength, obtain Skills and other rewards but if the challenges win, they obtain the right to live on Earth without suppression. Many survivors of the galaxies we''ve destroyed used this method to survive on Earth and recuperate there.¡± ¡°I see. So in order to conquer Earth with my army, I need to invade the place using either a Gate, Dungeon or Tower, is that right?¡± asked Nolan. ¡°Yes but to invade Earth, you''re gonna need a large army so I would recommend you invade using a Gate since a Gate Outbreak could occur if it isn''t conquered in the time allocated. The tower is another option because those who enter can only leave after clearing a floor, it''s good for trapping your opponents.¡± explained the elder. ¡°I understand. I want the whole sect to become my army, excluding Core Elders and above personnel. Everyone below is coming with me to take over Earth and the Milky Way Galaxy!¡± said Nolan with a dashing smile. ¡°Don''t be hasty, Demonic Child, you can request for an army to help with your conquest. These disciples and elders aren''t trained in war so taking them with you might be a waste of both resources and effort. I implore you to choose wisely.¡± said the elder in panic. ¡°I''ve made my decision. All disciples and elders will go with me to conquer my home planet. As for their experience in the art of war, worry not because I have the right tools to shape them into the kind of weapon I want hehe! Please assemble everyone at the square tomorrow Elder Goik!¡± said Nolan as he stood up and left with large strides. High Elder Goik watched Nolan walk out of the Grand Hall and it was after he left that the elder sighed and remarked. ¡°Damn Earthlings, bunch of weird bastards! Fortunately, the Demonic Child is as weird as them, hehe. I wonder how things will turn out like.¡± ¡­ The next day, a massive crowd of disciples and elders sat cross legged in the open area. They murmured among themselves, making speculations about what was going on but all their speculations were wrong. ¡°I think another Holy World is about to open so that''s why we were summoned here.¡± ¡°I heard that the Blood Ceremony would be held earlier this time around, is it about that?¡± ¡°I heard rumours that new Ruins were discovered so maybe we''re going there.¡± {SILENCE!} While they were chatting, an authoritative voice sounded out, completely suppressing everyone in the square. It was High Elder Goik who had just spoken. {I have an announcement to make. Everyone below the status of Core Elders, prepare yourselves for war. You shall become the army of the Demonic Child. Work hard and serve the Demon Child well.} said High Elder Goik. Everyone in the square was completely shocked by this news because it didn''t make sense. Never before had disciples and elders of the sect forced to become someone''s army. Usually, army soldiers were chosen when recruiting disciples and no one was forced to join the army. While they were complaining, they didn''t notice the Magic Formation on the ground that had silently activated. A voice then sounded in their ears. It was a cold, deep and murderous voice. It carried with it no sympathy, no care, no kindness, no nothing for human lives. It cared not about their opinions nor their complaints. It only demanded that one follow the instructions without asking questions. [The sect feeds you, clothes you, shelters you and even provides for you yet there''s nothing you''ve done for the sect except for take, take and take. But don''t worry, you now have a chance to pay back the sect by serving as my army, as the army of Demonic Child Nolan. Work hard to please me and I promise not to eat you. We''ll set off once my Tower is ready, for now, experience what war is like and what you need to do to survive.] said Nolan coldly. [Nightmare Illusion: Terrors Of War!] Chapter 39: Redhand Tower Today was Monday morning on planet Earth, everyone was going about their business when suddenly, strong spatial fluctuations caused the disturbance in the area as a huge portal appeared in the sky, then a massive hand protruded from it. People used their Star Watches to record but the only thing they got to record was the hand coming out from the portal and that was it. After they saw the hand, they were instantly crushed beneath its weight. The arm turned out to not be a real arm but a tower with an arm design. The human arm tower stood tall and proud where it was, the hand had dug deep into the ground and only the wrist up could be seen. There were four entrances on the human arm tower design. The tower was blood red in colour like an arm that was bleeding nonstop. It was as big as a seven thousand story building, very tall that everyone in the continent could see it no matter where they were. This tower spoke for itself that it wasn''t normal. It had taken numerous lives after just appearing and many people were scared of this tower. While everyone was scared, there were people who were actually excited, people who grew stronger by entering such dangerous places. These people were separated into two kinds; Hunters and Awakeners. Although it sounded like they were the same type of people, they were actually different. Hunters were types of people who mostly raid Gates and for one to be seen as a Hunter, they have to awaken their Skill. Experienced Hunters have many Skills in their arsenal and are always prepared for anything. Some of their Skills are said to be heaven defying. Awakeners on the other hand are people who mostly compete in the towers, completing the tower trials. To become an Awakener, the condition of awakening an Innate Ability is needed. Experienced Awakeners have many Abilities in their arsenal, some which are completely broken abilities. When the tower appeared, an organisation called the Awakeners Association quickly rushed to the site and arrived at the place in ten to fifteen minutes. The Awakeners Association is a group that was established with the appearance of towers a very long time ago. This organisation is filled with Awakeners and back in the day, in order to enter the towers, one needed a Hunter License that would be provided by the Awakeners Association. A group of about twenty people arrived, closed off the area and labelled it as a restricted area. Then they started to inspect the tower that had just appeared. Equipment of unknown uses was taken out and placed on the tower. Some of this equipment looked like a big camera. The object that was placed on the tower began to write something on its screen. Someone went there to check and after seeing whatever was written there, that person rushed to inform the leader of this operation. ¡°Sir! Sir! I''ve just recorded the results of this tower. This tower is a High Grade Legendary Rank tower!¡± the person reported. ¡°What?!¡±This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Sir! Sir! The requirements of this tower have just been recorded and it''s bad! It''s very bad! It''s a Planetary Tower that needs many Rankers with the strongest rankers being S-rank to clear it.¡± ¡°Shit!¡± The reaction of the leader was expected because the situation was more dire than he had anticipated. Towers were separately ranked into Lowly, Common, Uncommon, Rare, Unique, Epic and Legendary and further divided into grades of Low, Mid, High, Peak and Extreme. The higher the rank and grade of the tower, the stronger the monsters inside would be and the higher the difficulty of climbing it and completely clearing it. As for it being a Planetary Tower, it actually meant that the tower was as big as a world. As for the S-rank and stuff, rankers were c ranked from F-rankers who were the weakest, to S-rankers who were the strongest. F-rank, E-rank, D-rank, C-rank, B-rank, A-rank and S-rank. These ranks correlated to the star realms in terms of strength. ¡°What''s the actual number needed to climb the tower?!¡± ¡°A million F-rankers, a hundred thousand E-rankers, ten thousand D-rankers, a thousand C-rankers, a hundred B-rankers, ten A-rankers and two S-rankers.¡± ¡°What the fuck! Are you fucking serious?!¡± ¡°Yes Sir! I double and even triple checked and the numbers aren''t wrong!¡± Ten A-rankers were equivalent to ten Nebula Realm experts, even for big organisations, an A-rank was a very important asset that couldn''t be easily utilised. And the number of Awakeners and Hunters was much smaller than the number of Star Warriors. ¡°Publicise the information and don''t hide any information from the public. Let the guilds decide for themselves how they are going to solve this one. Pack up everything, our job here is finished.¡± ¡°Yes Sir.¡± ¡­ When the news of the tower was released to the public, everyone was shocked by the number of rankers needed to climb the tower. The tower was also given a name, Redhand Tower. The response of guilds was much more professional and well thought out. Smaller guilds contacted each other to propose cooperation because the numbers were too big to be filled up by one guild. The smaller guilds specifically targeted the largest quota of the tower rankers, F-rankers all the way to C-rankers. And after discussions were concluded, the small guilds set up an expedition date to climb the tower together. A few days later, many small guilds gathered outside the Redhand Tower, famous small guilds like the Greengrass Guild, Rocks Guild, Lizard Guild and Cactus Guild were also there, even the guild leaders were there. Everyone was wearing expensive armour and carried strong weapons. It was obvious that their respective guilds had spent a lot of money in order to ensure a safe and fruitful trip. As the first guilds to enter the Redhand Tower, many resources and treasures still hadn''t been touched yet so it would be easy for them to replenish their vaults with even more money. The large crowd then entered the Redhand Tower and once inside, what met them was a huge forest that spanned for as long as the eye could see. There was also a board nailed on the tree that wrote; ¡®If you want to join the Demonic Sect, please step on that magic array formation.¡¯ A magic formation was set up not far from where the board was and it looked like it could accommodate a hundred people at least. Everyone thought that it was a trap and thus everyone ignored such an obvious trap, everyone entered the forest and disappeared in its foliage. ¡­ Chapter 40: Centura ¡°Young master, your breakfast is ready, I heard that you''re going to the Redhand Tower so I made your breakfast extra special.¡± a middle aged woman''s voice sounded from outside the room. ¡°Coming.¡± a male voice sounds from inside the room. A man came out of the bathroom with a towel covering his lower body. He had a normal body, neither lean nor muscular, his looks were above average but those looks were ruined by his sparse hair and the glasses he wore. ¡®Another day of boredom. Why am I even still alive? This life sucks!¡¯ thought the man as he dressed himself up. This was Centura, a twenty eight year old man. He is born in a family of Awakeners and lives quite the luxurious lifestyle but it''s not enough for him because of the talent he awakened. He awakened an Ability called Computer Mind, which enables him to quickly process information, better memory and quick thinking. What this Ability does is actually turn Centura into a human computer. Everyone thought that Centura had awoken a powerful Ability but how wrong they were. In this day and age, a human computer is absolutely useless because people perform feats that a computer can''t even fathom. They''d tried to test the usefulness of this Ability but apart from making Centura slightly smarter than everyone, that was basically it. Fortunately Centura was born into a wealthy family so he always got what he wanted. Even joining a strong guild like the Rhino Guild was all due to his family''s power and wealth. And today, the Rhino Guild planned to enter the Redhand Tower to try out their luck. Leading this expedition was the A-rank Guild Master called Randy, a very powerful man. Centura ate his breakfast alone and left his house after he was done eating. His grandparents had hired a maid for him that was there 24/7. ¡®Another day of boredom. When will something interesting occur in my life? I hope I die in this expedition, maybe that will be interesting.¡¯ he thought to himself as the self-driving hover car took him to his destination. There, he met up with other guild members who were fully clad in gold armour which was very expensive. Centura was wearing his own golden armour which he bought for this expedition, after all, staying alive was the most ignorant. [I won''t go over what we''ve already discussed in the meeting room but I will say this. If you don''t follow my commands then don''t expect us to rescue you when you''re in danger. I''m not planning on being completely eradicated like the other guilds. We''ll only check the first and second floors of the tower and retreat! Got that?!] ¡°Yes Sir!¡± [Let''s go!] ¡­ The Rhino Guild which had a hundred members in total entered the Redhand Tower and like the previous guilds, what came into view first was the massive forest. Then, what came into view next was the board of the Demonic Sect Recruitment. Everyone ignored the board, thinking it was a trap. Only Centura seemed interested in it as he walked towards the direction pointed by the board. ¡®Finally, something interesting.¡¯ ¡°Hey Centura! Where are you going? Come back!¡± shouted one of the guild members but Centura ignored him and entered the teleportation magic formation. The teleportation activated instantly and Centura was teleported away. [Forget about that loser! We continue as we discussed! Let''s go!] ¡°Yes Sir!¡± ¡­This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Centura on the other hand, found himself in a completely different place. It was a huge empty hall with only a few people there. A young man sat lazily on the only chair there. Three people stood behind him, two old man and one old lady. When Centura appeared, s strong and invisible pressure fell on him and he absolutely had no way of resisting so he fell to his knees. ¡°Oh, finally someone comes to become a Demonic Sect disciple. Tell me, what is your name?¡± asked the person sitting on his throne. Centura didn''t respond immediately but scrutinised the person talking to him. This person was wearing a black night gown and sleepers, a brush cut with a perfect trim, he had blue eyes with a hidden sharpness and intelligence in them. Currently, what these blue eyes were filled with was curiosity. His caramel skin blended beautifully with the slightly dark environment. He looked young, younger than even him. ¡°M-My name is Centura and I indeed came here to become a disciple. Am I really going to be accepted as a Demonic Sect disciple, I thought this was a trap, is it not?¡± asked Centura. ¡°Hahaha, of course not. We really are recruiting disciples but they have to meet the requirements first. Tell me Centura, what is your Innate Ability and what does it do?¡± asked the young man. ¡°You know I''m quite embarrassed to talk about my Innate Ability because it''s a trash ability. My Ability is called Computer Mind and it allows me to quickly process information, better memory and quick thinking, I''m like a human computer.¡± answered Centura in embarrassment. ¡°Are you serious?¡± the face of the young man turned serious for the first time. ¡°Y-Yes, what''s wrong?¡± asked Centura. The young man on the throne didn''t answer but snapped his fingers and a person appeared. The man had a cloth in his mouth and his arms and legs were tied. ¡°Kill him.¡± ¡°W-What¡­N-No¡­!!!¡± The man who was tied up also made noises and shook his head in refusal. Although Centura had killed a lot of things in his life, humans weren''t part of that list. His conscience wouldn''t allow him to do such a gruesome thing. ¡°Centura, what creature have you killed most in your life?¡± asked the young man. ¡°Goblins.¡± quickly answered Centura without even thinking about it. ¡°Goblins? Good. Now tell me, how did you feel when you killed the goblins?¡± ¡°I was hesitant at first but the more goblins I killed, I stopped feeling anything when killing them.¡± answered Centura. ¡°How would you describe your current life? Is it great? Are you enjoying it?¡± ¡°No! I mean no. My life is boring. Nothing interests me.¡± Centura answered this question almost instantaneously. ¡°What about hobbies and stuff? Have you tried anything challenging before?¡± asked the young man. ¡°When I was young, my mom took me to a blacksmithing school to learn how to create weapons. But the method we were taught was flawed and when I told the instructor this, he told me I was talentless and causing trouble and kicked me out. It was the same thing with alchemy, magic formations, inscriptions and other stu¡­¡± ¡°Pwahahaha! Ahahahaha! You? Talentless? Hahaha! This is the greatest joke I''ve ever heard in my life.¡± the young man burst out in laughter, he laughed so hard that he walked away from his seat and returned to it after he''d stopped laughing. ¡°Centura, right? You''re the most talented person I know currently. Now, I want you to look at this guy like he''s a goblin and I want you to kill him the same way you''d kill a goblin.¡± said the young man. ¡°No! I can''t!¡± ¡°Centura, take a deep breath and do as I tell you. Look at this man like you''re looking at a goblin and just kill him. Relax your body and mind.¡± Centura did as the young man said, he took a deep breath to calm himself and his thoughts down. He did all of this while looking at the tied up person. When he relaxed his body and mind, something in him seemed to activate because his face became expressionless and his eyes became blank without feelings or emotions. Seeing Centura¡¯s changes, the tied up person got scared because when he looked at Centura, it didn''t feel like he was looking at a human being but instead, it felt like he was looking at a robot. ¡°Mhmmmm! Mhmmmmm! Mhmmmmm!¡± he tried to plead for mercy but couldn''t due to the rag in his month. Centura walked up to him and decapitated the person instantly and he did it without hesitation. ¡°Centura, tell me, what or how do you feel?¡± asked the young man. ¡°I don''t particularly have a feeling. In simple terms, I don''t feel anything. I''m neither sad nor happy, I don''t feel any guilt and I''m not trying to console myself or justify my actions. It''s like when you squash an ant, you don''t feel anything for it, after all, it''s just an ant.¡± answered Centura in an emotionless voice. ¡°Centura, let me tell you right now. You''re gonna be the greatest killer the world has ever seen. Your legends will make even the strongest beings cower at the mention of your name. I give you the status of a Core Disciple, welcome to the Demonic Sect.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Chapter 41: Came Out A month had past since the Rhino Guild entered the tower and they too were labelled as dead by the media. It was now crystal clear that this Redhand Tower wasn''t a normal tower that just anybody could clear it or even gain benefits from it. In this month, no other guild had attempted to enter the tower due to its mortality rate and the danger it posed. ¡­ Some journalists had never left the area outside the Redhand Tower. They had watched and recorded the Redhand Tower expand by a kilometer of land every seven days and today was no different. ¡°Is this tower really that difficult to clear?¡± ¡°Isn''t that obvious. Many guilds have already been wiped out before a month had even passed so tell me, is it difficult or not?¡± ¡°He''s right. This tower is very dangerous and mysterious. Why does it even need so many people to clear it!¡± While the journalists and cameramen were chatting, the tower entrance opened up for the first time and someone actually made it out. Seeing this, the journalists and cameramen were so shocked that they even forgot their jobs and as soon as they remembered, they rushed towards the person at their fastest speed. The expensive cameras were already recording everything that was happening. The person who exited the tower suddenly disappeared, he only appeared for a few seconds before he disappeared. ¡°Quick! Quick! Put me on air!¡± ¡°Hurry up! Where''s the mic, this is fucking big news!¡± ¡°I''m fucking getting loaded with this scoop! I wonder who that guy is!¡± ¡­ The news was quickly uploaded on all media platforms, causing a stir in the Earthen Continent where the Redhand Tower was. Everyone was wondering who the guy who exited the tower was because he didn''t fit the description of everyone who entered the tower. The person had long black hair, light brown eyes, a muscular build and a handsome face. He walked as if every move was calculated, precise and in tune with the surroundings. No matter how many times they checked, they just couldn''t fit this person''s description. ¡­ The person who had exited the tower was currently standing outside an enshrined mansion. He could tell that it was abandoned because of the tall grass and weeds growing there. ¡°If I remember correctly, today is grandpa''s birthday, maybe everyone is there. Let me quickly take a bath and heard there fast.¡± muttered the person softly as he entered the mansion. Fifteen to twent minutes later, the person came out looking fresh. His long black hair was tied into a neat ponytail, he wore a red suit with a white shirt and tie. He was extremely handsome at this moment. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Outside the mansion, a hover car was already waiting for him, he hopped in and the car drove away. ¡­ In another mansion, this one was very big. Inside the place, it was built using very expensive materials like the marble floor, the golden vases and flowerpots, everything just spoke about how wealthy this family was. Today was the birthday of a tycoon of an old man. Many people referred to him as Old Man Billy and his family called him Grandpa Billy. Grandpa Billy was currently enjoying himself with his family and friends, enjoying drinks and having fun when suddenly a man was sent in flying. The soft music stopped as everyone''s attention was pulled towards the man who''d fainted on the floor. This was one of the guards that was hired to keep the intruders outside yet here he was, lying ubconscious on the floor. ¡°What''s the meaning of this? Who dares to cause trouble in the Gregory household?!¡± roared the old man as everyone prepared to fight whoever came here to cause trouble. ¡°Grandpa Billy, am I not allowed to even attend my own grandpa''s birthday celebration, you''re hurting me.¡± sounded a playful yet manly voice. Everyone focused on the entrance to see just who it was who was talking. A handsome that everyone didn''t recognise made his entrance, with his red suit, he was even more attention grabbing. ¡°Who are you? I don''t remember having a grandson who looks like you.¡± ¡°After disappearing for just a month, it seems everyone has completely forgotten about me. Mother, father, brothers and sisters, have you forgotten about the trash Centura?!¡± said the person or rather Centura mockingly. Everyone was completely dumbfounded when Centura revealed his identity. He literally looked like a completely different person, no sparse hair or the ugly glasses he always wore. The air of depression and hopelessness had also completely disappeared. Even his parents couldn''t recognise him, not that they''d paid any attention to him. After finding out that he had a trash ability, no one in the family bothered with him. They only gave him little money to ensure that he lives well and doesn''t come to bother them. Never in their wildest dreams, did they expect the loser Centura to suddenly become a dragon that was mighty and powerful. His confidence and pride were over the roof. ¡°Centura, is this really you? My son, you''ve grown up into a fine young man, I''m proud¡­¡± ¡°Shut up! Don''t pretend like you care about me! We all know who is your favourite child but I''m not here for this. Grandpa, I came to talk to you about something. Give me Ten Billion MC. I''m sure you obtained a lot of gifts from your guests so just spare some for me.¡± said Centura. ¡°WHAT?!¡± ¡°Give me Ten Billion MC. I''m sure you obtained a lot of gifts from¡­¡± ¡°I fucking heard what you said, no need to repeat yourself! What I''m trying to say is that Ten Billion MC is a lot of money and I can''t just give it to you.¡± answered the grandpa angrily. ¡°Why do you even need that much money for anyways?¡± ¡°That''s none of your business. You''re not giving me the money anyways so why should I tell you what I''m gonna use it for.¡± ¡°If you have a valid reason then I might consider giving it to you.¡± said Grandpa Billy. ¡°I need to go to Mars before anyone finds out about my true identity. I have to lay low for a while.¡± said Centura. ¡°Mars?! What kind of deep shit did you get yourself into?!¡± ¡°Grandpa, be fucking smart. I''m the only person who came back from the Redhand Tower, what do you think people are gonna do to me once I''m found?¡± ¡°Oh, then take it. I''m sorry I wasn''t a good grandparent to you and it might be too late to say this.¡± ¡°Just give me the money old man and I''ll owe you a favour. I''m no longer a tiny fish swimming with the sharks. I''m now a small fish that can order the sharks around so a favour from me is worth ten billion MC.¡± ¡°Whatever you say.¡± said Old Man Billy as he transferred the money. Just when Centura was about to leave, someone came with the police. ¡°Officers, this is the man who came here to cause trouble. Quickly arrest him!¡± ¡°Mr Gregory, please come with us to the police station without causing a scene, we just want to ask you a few questions.¡± ¡°Fuck you and the police station. I''m not going anywhere with you!¡± Chapter 42: Video Centura raised his hands in surrender but the police didn''t let their guard down and approached with their guns still pointing at him. When one of the cops was about to grab his hands and cuff him, he moved very fast, his hand that was like a sharp knife easily beheaded the corpse and he took the cop''s gun and shot the other two cops with extreme precision. He killed the other two cops with headshots, everything happened so quickly that by the time everyone finished blinking, everything was over. Three guards fell on the expensive floor and dirtied it with their blood. Everyone was even more astonished not just by Centura''s speed but also his ruthlessness. Centura then looked at the person who''d called the police and that person was so scared that he fainted. ¡°Trash. Sandra, does the Demonic Sect have any media platform where they can be contacted?¡± answered his AI. ¡°Good. Let''s do a video and send it to them immediately after, okay?¡± Centura then took out a token with a word that only he could read. His star watch then began recording him but Centura didn''t say too much. ¡°Come and fetch me and hurry the fuck up!¡± said Centura on the video and it was sent on the Demonic Sect''s Fritter and Instragram accounts. ¡°Old Man Billy, I won''t forget what you did for me today. If you''re in trouble, contact me anytime.¡± ¡°Centura, what the fuck is going on?¡± ¡­ While all of this was happening, a person was looking through the messages and videos sent to the Demonic Sect. It was the person responsible for the account. He was scrolling through the messages as usual when a video notification popped up and since he hadn''t found anything interesting, he clicked on the video where he saw a young man telling them to come and fetch him in a hurry. Usually, the man would dismiss such videos but this one was special because of the token the young man was holding while shooting the video. ¡°Holy Shit! Quick! Quick! Contact HQ! Quickly contact HQ!¡± ¡°Bro, what the fuck is going on? Why are you suddenly panicking?¡± asked his co-worker. The man didn''t answer but just grabbed his co-worker by his clothes and said coldly. [I said contact HQ!] ¡°Bro¡­bro relax. I''ll contact them right now, what the fuck!¡± said the co-worker as he searched through his contacts on his star watch. He then found a number and called it, the call went through and a young lady appeared on the holographic screen. asked the young lady. ¡°Show her this video and she''ll know what to do. Hurry up, this is an emergency!¡± said the man as he sent his co-worker the video and his co-worker sent it to the lady on screen. ¡°Please watch the video I just sent to you.¡± said the co-worker. The lady then opened the video notification she just received and watched the video. Immediately after she finished watching it, the young lady seemed to panic. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°Cut the chitchat and fucking come and fetch me. Be quick because I''m also wanted by the police. I''ll send you my live location right now so don''t waste my time.¡± said Centura before dropping the call. ¡­ Back to where Ronda was, when Centura sent his live location and dropped the call, she immediately rushed out of her office and requested to seek an audience with the higher ups using her star watch. Her request was approved and wherever she was, a force enveloped her and she flew away in a certain direction at high speed. A few minutes later, she reached her location which was a garden place where a bunch of elders were chatting happily. ¡°Little Ronda, what seems to be the problem? Why do you suddenly want to meet us?¡± asked one of the female elders. Ronda didn''t bother about the details and just showed the elders the video that was sent to her earlier and the call recording she''d taken. When the elders saw the first video, their eyes worried in surprise and when they saw the call recording, they went crazy. ¡°Send me his location! We''ll quickly go and fetch him! Hurry up!¡± said one of the elders and Ronda quickly shared the location. ¡°Earth, it''s a bit far from Mars but who cares! Quickly prepare the teleportation formation! Forget it, we''ll just fly there!¡± said the elder as he shot through the sky, two more elders followed him and the three of them quickly disappeared. If anyone saw how panicked the elders were just now, everyone would think that the sect was about to be destroyed. ¡­ Back to Earth, three brightly glowing stars appeared in the skies of the Earthen Continent, at the same time, police cars and military cars were rushing towards Centura''s location at full speed and arrived there in just ten minutes. The soldiers surrounded the massive villa in all directions, making sure that Centura wouldn''t be able to escape. A middle aged man with a full beard exited the car with a cigar in his mouth and he also wore a military uniform but this one was different from the one the soldiers wore. There were also many military medals on the left chest of his uniform. He walked unhurriedly towards the villa, entered it, walked around like it was his very own house and reached his destination. The man looked around like he was looking for someone and when he saw a young man chatting with his grandpa, he seemed to have found his target. ¡°Centura Gregory?¡± ¡°Depends on who''s asking.¡± replied Centura. ¡°My name is Chad, Brigadier General of the Earth Army Force. I''ve come here to ask you a few questions regarding how you survived inside the Redhand Tower. This information is very important as the Redhand Tower threatens the planet itself so please share the information. You and your family will be well taken care of, just state your price and we''ll pay it.¡± said Chad. This man, although ordinary looking, Centura knew very well that he was very powerful so he didn''t dare antagonise him in any way. Plus, telling them how he left the Redhand Tower wasn''t a big deal. ¡°It''s quite simple actually, I just told the people controlling the tower that I wanted to leave and they let me leave. That''s it.¡± said Centura truthfully. Chad was immediately infuriated, thinking that Centura was taking him for a fool. ¡°Boy, I don''t have time to play games with you. Tell me how you got out of that place. Name your price and we''ll pay it!¡± ¡°Then I want Earth''s World Spirit. Tell me that and I''ll give you all the information you want. I''ll even guide you step by step on how to survive inside the tower and make it out alive and unscathed.¡± ¡°You¡­ What do you know about the World Spirit?! Who told you about it?!¡± asked Chad. ¡°I wish I could tell you all about it but it seems you''ve run out of time.¡± ¡°What do you mean I''ve¡­¡± Right then, three powerful presences descended on the villa at the same time, they were so powerful that the entire Earthen Continent was enveloped in their powerful and suppressive aura. The roof of the villa flew away and three elders entered the mansion and knelt in front of Centura. [Elder Raymond greets the Core Disciple!] [Elder Willy greets the Core Disciple!] [Elder Adam greets the Core Disciple!] Chapter 43: World Spirit Everyone was surprised by the sudden appearance of the three old men with terrifying auras. The fact that these three old geezers were actually kneeling in front of Centura was even more shocking. ¡°Get up.¡± said Centura and the three geezers thanked him before getting up. It was only now that Chad understood what Centura meant when he said he was out of time. Looking at the clothes they were wearing, General Chad raised an eyebrow. ¡°Demonic Sect? Boy, I didn''t expect your backer to be the Demonic Sect, how did you even come into contact with them since their base is on planet Mars?¡± asked Chad. ¡°I don''t think that''s any of your business. Now if you''ll excuse me, I have places to be.¡± said Centura as he prepared to leave with the elders. ¡°Wait, you said you wanted the World Spirit right, I can give you a chance to obtain it yourself, in exchange, tell me how you got out of the Redhand Tower.¡± said Chad after much contemplation. ¡°Are you serious?¡± asked Centura. ¡°Do I look like I''m joking?¡± Centura gave Chad a calculative look before coming to a decision. ¡°It''s quite simple to end the massacre happening inside the Redhand Tower. Join the Demonic Sect and all your problems will be solved. Well, that''s what I did, you know what they say right, if you can''t beat them, join them.¡± said Centura. ¡°So what you''re saying is that the Redhand Tower is the work of the Demonic Sect?¡± ¡°Yes. Now, take me to where the World Spirit is, I don''t have time to waste.¡± ¡°Okay, follow me.¡± ¡­ Brigadier General Chad took the group of four on a ten hour trip. Along the way, Centura chatted happily with the old geezers and learned a lot of secrets regarding Earth. He learned that Earth was now the largest planet in the solar system and that although it seemed like Earth was dominated by humans, they weren''t the true rulers of the planet but the races that invaded a long time ago were. After a ten hour drive, they finally reached their destination. The military car parked on the outskirts of an open field with green grass. A lot of soldiers were stationed there, when they saw General Chad, they saluted the man and the general only nodded and then led the group of four deeper into the field. They walked a little distance and General Chad suddenly disappeared. The four were surprised and on high alert, General Chad appeared again and told them to come over. They approached with caution until they felt something blocking the way and when they forced their way in, they came into a completely different world. There was an invisible barrier that kept this world hidden from the rest of the world and make no mistake, the world inside the barrier wasn''t all fun and sunshine but a far more terrifying place. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. In the three elders and Centura''s eyes, a war between different races was happening right in front of them. Dragons, Elves, Vampires, Werewolves, Angels, Demons, Orcs, Giants and all kinds of races were battling it out on what seemed to be a stage. The stage looked like a tall mountain that had been horizontally and the upper cone shaped part was thrown away and left the perfect battle stage. Above the stage, a ball of illusory grass floated calmly and spun slowly. ¡°What is this place? And what''s floating above the arena?¡± asked Centura. ¡°Welcome to Earth''s Core aka the Champion Arena. This is where all the races living on Earth compete for the World Spirit. The rules are quite simple, defeat all the challengers and be the last man standing. Then challenge the World Spirit Guardian and obtain the World Spirit. It''s simple, right. And that right there is the Earth''s World Spirit.¡± answered General Chad. Around the arena were countless small portals where different races kept flocking in like an endless swamp. ¡°How the fuck is someone supposed to defeat an endless supply of challengers from different races. There''s at least a million challengers already on stage and more are still coming out from the portals. What are even those portals?!¡± ¡°Those are the only rules to obtain the World Spirit. And those portals are the Small Worlds of those races. And although we call them Small Worlds, they are extremely big but small compared to Earth.¡± Centura looked at the battlefield with calm eyes but his thoughts were all over the place. The humans were being completely overwhelmed by the other races, only the Earth''s beasts were doing much better but they also weren''t a match for the alien races. There were even a few beings that just sat cross legged in the arena and no one dared to approach them. ¡°Can we also participate in this war?¡± asked one of the elders. ¡°No, only Nebula Realm Warriors and below can participate in this battle. Propostar Realm Warriors and above can only watch from the side. Well, I''ve shown you what you wanted. So, are you going to participate in the battle or not?¡± asked Chad. ¡°Let''s go back!¡± said Centura after careful thinking. He wasn''t a fool and knew that participating in his current state meant certain death. He didn''t have battle experience, had yet to fully understand the limits of his powers and was no match for the alien races so he could only leave. ¡­ Centura and the elders didn''t return to the Gregory household but were now standing in front of the gargantuan tower that resembled a red hand. ¡°Let''s go.¡± said Centura. The elders took out their tokens in order not to be rejected by the Redhand Tower since they were neither Awakeners nor Hunters. As soon as they entered the Redhand Tower, they appeared in the boss room where the young man wearing a gown was seated lazily while gnawing on a human hand like it was a snack. ¡°We greet the Demonic Child!¡± As soon as they appeared, the group of four knelt and greeted the Demonic Child. ¡°Stand up.¡± said the Demonic Child lazily. The elders and Centura thanked him and stood up. At first, the elders hadn''t clearly seen what the Demonic Child was eating and upon closer inspection, they saw that it was a human hand. Outwardly they didn''t show any reaction but inwardly they were terrified. ¡°You must be the elders of the Branch Demonic Sect. Allow me to fully introduce myself even though I''m sure you''ve heard of me already. I am Nolan otherwise known as The Enemy Of Humanity, nice to meet all of you.¡± said Nolan. As Propostar experts, these elders had a very good memory and when Nolan told them his nickname, a thought from the past immediately surfaced in their minds. Wasn''t this one of Earth''s most wanted criminals? After Nolan''s wanted poster, the guy seemed to disappear from the face of Earth and many had thought that he''d died. Never did they expect that after disappearing for years, this guy would come back not only as a Tower Boss but also as Demonic Child of the Demonic Sect. Thinking back to Nolan''s history, the three elders had the same thought in their minds. ¡®So this is what a Demonic Child looks like. Definitely worthy of his title!¡¯ Chapter 44: And The Slaughter Begins ¡°What brings you here?¡± asked Nolan. ¡°We''ve found the location of Earth''s World Spirit and also the way to obtain it but it might prove troublesome to obtain it.¡± Centura began to explain to Nolan everything that happened while outside the tower, of course he didn''t include the useless information like his family matters. Nolan was unpleasantly surprised by this information because he would no longer have to waste his time idling in the tower and could just go out and fight for what he wanted. Nolan had thought that he''d have to wait for years before his plans came to partial fruition but now, everything had become easy. ¡°Let''s go! Take me to that place this instant!¡± said Nolan excitedly. His gown turned into a black tuxedo, it was like he was going on a business trip. A magician''s hat adorned his head and a diamond walking stick with a dragon head handle appeared on his right hand while his left hand held a smoking pipe that released a somewhat colourless smoke. With a snap of his fingers, the group of five appeared outside the Redhand Tower. Nolan then turned around to look at the tower and with another snap of his fingers, the Redhand Tower shrank at a terrifying speed and in just a few seconds, it shrank to the size of an adult''s finger. The reason why Nolan was able to leave the Redhand Tower and even collect it like it was a toy was because firstly, he was an Earthling so the restrictions that applied to other Tower Bosses didn''t apply to him, secondly, he had modelled the Redhand Tower to also become a storage artefact that could be put away at any time. Immediately after he was done, the group immediately left for the World Spirit location. Of course the sudden disappearance of the Redhand caused a huge commotion and the journalists had caught everything on camera. Yes, Nolan was caught on camera and immediately became a hot topic and internet sensation. ¡­ While all of this was happening, Nolan and the others travelled at their fastest speed to reach their destination and they reached the place in just two hours since Centura had to rest along the way. When they entered the barrier to the core of Earth, they found that Brigadier General Chad hadn''t yet left and was watching the battle with a solemn expression. In fact, General Chad always watched the battle with a solemn expression because he could see just how overwhelmingly powerful the alien races were, humans were absolutely no match for them so how could he not be worried. When the five arrived, he approached them with quick steps but someone was even faster than him. He only felt a soft breeze and the fifth person had disappeared. ¡°Who was that?!¡± he asked but the four people just ignored him and instead looked at the sky. It wasn''t just them who looked at the sky, the few figures who were sitting cross legged on stage yet no one attacked them also looked at the sky. At some point, someone appeared in the sky and looked down from above. He wore a black tuxedo, a magician''s hat, held a diamond walking stick and was smoking a pipe. The young man puffed his smoking pipe a few times before putting it away. The young man had a mischievous smile on his face and eyes full of excitement. [Here goes nothing. Let''s see how my first experiment turns out.]Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Everyone on stage then felt the air become fresher and purer, some couldn''t help but take deep breaths because of how comfortable it was to breathe in fresh air. The air just continued being purified, becoming fresher and easier to breathe by the second. You see, Earth has a gas that all living things rely on to breathe, a gas that can be found everywhere as long as you''re on planet Earth. Although this gas is essential to life, too much of it can cause problems. On the battle stage, many races there started to experience vision problems and could only see stuff near them, their muscles twitched and mild throat irritation. To the weaker ones, the effects were greater to the weaker ones. Breathing became difficult, lung damage, constantly coughing, nausea and even seizures. Everyone on stage had been poisoned with an unknown poison, even those nonchalant figures could feel their vision slowly being blurred and not breathing normally. [Wind Manipulation: Oxygen Poison.] One by one, the challengers dropped dead on the ground, be it humans or the alien races, Nolan was impartial with his lethal attack. Of the millions, about five hundred thousand were killed by the attack. Although there were many survivors, Nolan wasn''t done with his attack. The survivors would have normally sensed the danger but with their state of confusion, they didn''t and that was a big mistake. The fresh air although invisible, the ones on stage could feel it being compressed to dangerous levels but it was already too late to react. [Wind Manipulation: Oxygen Explosion!] BOOOOMMMMM!!! A cloud of blue flames spread out in all directions as an explosion occurred, the flames incinerated everything in sight and those who tried to escape were engulfed by the heat wave produced by the blue flames. [HAHAHA! AHAHAHAHA! NOW THIS¡­ IS WHAT I CALL A SCIENCE EXPERIMENT!] exclaimed Nolan as if he was playing a very fun game. He watched as everyone was slowly or quickly burning to death by the blue flames. Even from afar, he could feel the terrifying heat of the blue flames and kept adding more oxygen to make the flames even stronger. The temperature had reached terrifying degrees of about 5000 degrees Celsius, as hot as Earth''s Core thousands of years ago. After everyone was burned to ashes, Nolan didn''t waste time and called the three elders to come and protect him because what he was about to do didn''t allow for any interference. Nolan''s blue eyes became crimson red as his Soul was stirred. A malevolent energy full of killing and bloodthirstiness was released by his Soul. This cloud of malevolent energy was exactly two hundred meters in size. The cloud then began to take shape, slowly taking on a humanoid form. Nolan''s two halves of his Demonic Child token flew out of his body by themselves and entered the malevolent cloud with a half formed humanoid figure. A powerful aura unlike no other emanated from the figure behind him. Even though it was half formed, it released a powerful aura that caused everyone in the Milky Way Galaxy to shudder in fear. The cloud quickly completed its formation and resembled the ant-like man Nolan had seen before he joined the Demonic Sect. The ant-like man released a breath of crimson air that fused with the countless portals in this place and only eight portals were left alone. [I Nolan, the last Demonic Child, seeks full support from the sect. I seek for complete eradication of the chosen worlds. And I deem the Milky Way Galaxy as my own base after I''ve conquered it!] said Nolan with a determined expression. {Granted.} A single yet absolutely powerful word resounded throughout the Milky Way Galaxy, causing every living being to momentarily become absent minded. The ant-like man behind Nolan then grabbed at the air in front of Nolan and forcefully opened it, creating a space crack. On the other side of the space crack were figures who seemed to be in deep slumber but woke up after feeling the spatial fluctuations. The ant-like man didn''t just open up one space crack but many and these space cracks moved and fused with the portals that were marked red by the ant-like man''s breath earlier. Once the many space cracks fused with portals, one one space crack remained before it changed into a portal. The ant-like man then turned back into a malevolent cloud before the cloud was returned back into Nolan''s body. Immediately after, Nolan left a few words before falling unconscious. [And the Slaughter begins¡­] Chapter 45: Soulless Brigadier General Chad was astounded by what he''d just seen. He was absolutely astounded from start to finish, how Nolan killed half million people with just a single attack, to killing millions with his follow-up attack. He''d never ever seen a human from Earth achieve such a feat and was completely out of words. Just as he was about to inquire about who the person who just created a large explosion was, he received a voice call from one of his subordinates. He answered it quickly. ¡°Yes.¡± Brigadier General Chad didn''t respond immediately but instead looked at the three old men slowly descending from the sky, then he looked at Centura and seemed to realise something. ¡°Got it. I''ll keep a lookout for any suspicious group. Good job!¡± answered General Chad and dropped the call. He then looked at the unconscious young man with a peculiar gaze. Although he was also a Propostar Realm expert, General Chad knew that he was no match for these three geezers. As he was about to speak, he suddenly felt something and looked up. General Chad wasn''t the only spectator of the battle, many Propostar Realm experts were like him, spectating the whole battle and gathering information for strategies that might help their respective race to obtain the World Spirit. They were also astounded by Nolan''s actions that even after executing such powerful skills, they forgot to attack and eliminate him with all their might. Now suddenly, they felt fluctuations coming from the portal created by the ant-man like figure and distinctively knew that nothing good would come out of the portal. Someone actually came out of the portal and it was just one person with a unique appearance. The person who came out had long silky black hair, monolid eyes, thin lips and nose and abnormally white skin like he was a corpse. He had dark circles around his eyes and a black vertical mark on his forehead. He was wearing white cultivation robes and stood on a flying sword. On The back of his robes was a single name written in an ancient language but everyone could read and understand it in their own language. ¡®Soulless¡¯ As soon as he appeared, all eyes were focused on him because even though he didn''t exude any aura and looked ordinary, everyone''s senses were tingling to either be wary or run away. Soulless didn''t bother about everyone''s look but instead looked around until his eyes fell on Nolan. Nolan then floated towards Soulless and he looked at him up and down and kept nodding. ¡°So you''re the current youngest brother. Not bad. Not bad at all.¡± said Soulless as he took out what looked like a sweet and fed it to Nolan. At the same time, the former patriarchs of the Twelve Zodiacs also arrived with their subordinates, and an old man in a wheelchair also arrived with them. His granddaughter pushed the wheelchair from behind. Three young adults also followed behind them. As if sensing the mood, the group entered quietly without making noise and didn''t chat when they arrived but instead looked at the sky like everyone else. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! ¡­ After being fed what looked like a pill, Nolan slowly woke up and the first person he saw was an Asian looking dude who was smiling creepily at him. Nolan tried to distance himself from the man only to find that he seemed to be trapped in place and couldn''t move. ¡°Aren''t you going to greet your Senior Brother? I came here with the intention to help you, you know.¡± said Soulless. ¡°Junior Brother greets Senior Brother¡­¡± ¡°Soulless.¡± ¡°Junior Brother greets Senior Brother Soulless and is very grateful for his helping hand. I am honoured to be graced by your presence.¡± said Nolan. He was born in a time where cultivation novels were still a trend and had read many cultivation novels so he knew how to converse with this Soulless guy. ¡°Good. I came here in a hurry so I didn''t bring a gift with me. Tell you what, if you give me some time, I''ll see what gift to give you after collecting treasures.¡± ¡°Then I''ll wait for Senior Brother Soulless to surprise me.¡± answered Nolan. ¡°Good boy, very obedient.¡± said Soulless before shifting his attention to the countless portals suspended around him. He looked like he was trying to choose which one to enter first but couldn''t decide. ¡°Forget it, I''ll choose randomly.¡± he said as he just picked a portal and flew towards it using his flying sword. He then entered the portal and disappeared. The portal he chose was a portal that led to the Kobold World. Kobolds were humanoid-reptilian creatures that looked like a cross breed between humans and house lizards. Not even a minute had passed since Soulless entered the Kobold World but the spectating kobolds were already rushing to enter their world. Three minutes later, Soulless came out of the portal and the portal closed and disappeared behind him. He had a smile on his face as he entered another portal. This time, it was a portal that led to the Troll World. Same as the kobold spectators, the trolls also rushed to their world with panicked expressions. Three minutes later, he came out of the portal and the portal closed and disappeared behind him. There was no blood on his clothes and Soulless didn''t seem to have been in a fight. This went on a dozen more times, everytime he entered a portal, those of that portal would quickly rush into the portal with worried expressions and Soulless would come out three minutes later with the same smile on his face. Gnome World, Lizardmen World, Goblin World, Dwarf World, Locust World, Ogre World, Rock Worm World, Birdmen World, Fly World, Snakemen World, Mushroom World and many many more. All these worlds suffered the same fate and in just a few hours, many portals had disappeared until only eight portals were left. These portals led to the Dragon World, Vampire World, Werewolf World, Orc World, Angel World, Demon World, Elven World and Giants World. Only these eight were left and if one analysed this whole situation. It would be easy to tell that only the strongest races were left for Nolan to face off against. When Soulless came out of the last portal, he was holding a milky white marble about the size of a chicken egg. ¡°Junior Brother, quickly eat it. This is my gift to you after careful consideration. If we ever meet again, I''ll give you an even better gift than this one.¡± said Soulless as he fed Nolan the milky white marble. Nolan opened his mouth to chew on the marble but surprisingly, the instant it entered his mouth, it turned into an absolutely delicious liquid and he quickly swallowed it. Nolan then experienced a familiar feeling of euphoria that he''d almost forgotten. ¡°Mhmmm.¡± Nolan couldn''t help but moan in pleasure as his Soul began to expand and grow. This was the same feeling he felt when he devoured the Soul Fruit. ¡°Thank you Senior Brother for your gift, it was delicious.¡± said Nolan while licking his lips. ¡°I know right. Well, till we meet again. When you reach the Black Dwarf Star Realm, come and look for me in the Treemen Universe.¡± Chapter 46: Geniuses Once Soulless left, Nolan first threw a small item into the portal before descending onto the massive battle stage. The smell of burnt flesh excited him to no end, he then turned his attention to the World Spirit. ¡°Since all challengers are dead, shouldn''t the Guardian show himself or herself already?¡± said Nolan with a grin. ¡°Forget about the Guardian, fucking die you cancerous monster!¡± sounded a loud feminine voice. Nolan looked up and saw a young lady wearing only a crop top, sweatpants and pink shoes descend from the sky. Nolan moved to the side and dodged the young girl''s fist attack which caused cracks on the stage upon impact. ¡°What the fuck? Don''t you know that you''re supposed to be silent when sneak attacking someone? Forget it, I''ll just take it as my lucky day.¡± said Nolan as he struck the young lady with a hand chop at the back of her head and she lost consciousness immediately. ¡°How disappointing.¡± said Nolan while carrying the young lady like a bag of potatoes. ¡°CINDY!¡± ¡­ A few minutes ago when Soulless just left Earth, General Chad was about to fill in everyone on what happened, especially the young ones since they were very impulsive and emotional. ¡°Where''s Cindy?¡± asked a young man only to realise late that Cindy had sneaked away. ¡°Oh no!¡± BOOM! The group heard the ground crack and when they looked over, the female lady was flying towards the battle stage with bloodthirsty eyes. Most of these young adults knew who Cindy was and how powerful she also was, in recent years, she''d made a name for herself as someone who absolutely hated men. They even gave her a nickname because of her actions. ¡®Man Hunter.¡¯ That was her name because if you were a guy and she had information about you then you were fucked, even if you bullied a girl many years ago and didn''t know, she''d hunt you down and bring you to justice. The reason she could do this was because of her physique, the Combat Body. The Combat Body is a physique that allows the person born with it to be able to copy other people''s combat style and even counter measures for combat styles, this physique can also perfect the copied combat styles and computer be integrated by her as though she created them. The downside of this physique though was the mental effect it had on those who possessed it. This physique changes the psyche of anyone who has it to be a battle addict, afterall, it only improves through constant battle thus named Combat Body. Now, Cindy, a nightmare for many young adults, a Combat Body possessor was defeated in just one move. Just one move and it was over. These young adults obviously weren''t stupid because it didn''t just take talent to reach their current points but intelligence was also another important factor. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. For those who knew were no match for Cindy didn''t have plans of entering the battle stage at all. Those who were also on the same level as Cindy backed out as well because if Cindy could be defeated so easily, why would they think that they stood a chance. Many of the youths were scared of Nolan so not many dared to challenge him. Only the young adults that came with the Zodiacs had confidence in themselves and also a young man that came with Cindy, her BFF, Jason. ¡°It seems like I don''t need to advise anyone to not make a foolish decision. Now, to those who are confident in their abilities, your chances of taking down that monster are less than 10% and that''s considering your backgrounds or else your chances would have been zero.¡± said General Chad calmly. ¡°No way!¡± ¡°I can take him on!¡± ¡°I don''t think he can take us on at the same time!¡± ¡­ The youths vehemently refused General Chad''s claims, their pride didn''t allow them to accept such downgrading words. They were the cream of the crop of their respective families so they held themselves in high regards. Some said nothing like the twins from the Geminil Family, the calm young man from the Leo Family. ¡°You don''t believe me? Look at the battle stage and tell me what you see.¡± said General Chad. The young ones then looked at the stage and didn''t see anything amiss, Nolan stood alone on the stage like a lonely figure. ¡°Look around us and tell me what you see.¡± The young ones yet again looked around and saw many non-human powerhouses like dragons, vampires, giants, werewolves, angels and devils, elves and beastmen but still found nothing amiss. ¡°Why aren''t their representatives on stage? Do you think they came here just to watch the show and not participate in it? Let me tell you, that monster on stage killed everyone on stage in just minutes. Millions of participants were all killed by him alone, now tell me, are you a match for him?¡± asked General Chad. All the youths sucked in cold breaths at this revelation from General Chad. No matter how strong they were, they knew that just taking on one of the alien races would need teamwork. ¡­ While General Chad was still trying to convince Earth''s younger generation not to participate in the battle for the World Spirit, the other races didn''t just stand there and wait for Nolan to challenge the Guardian because if it came to that, it meant that they no longer had the chance to seize the World Spirit. A Propostar middle aged man covered in scales took out a communication and spoke in a solemn tone. [Your Majesty, it''s bad. The Demonic Sect just appeared and eliminated most of the contestants together with their Small Worlds. They also brought with them a Demonic Child to take the World Spirit. We need the very best if we want the Earth''s World Spirit¡­Thank you Your Majesty.] spoke a scaled middle aged man using Dragon Language. It wasn''t just him but also other spectators, they all communicated with their superiors, explaining what happened and requesting the very best from their races. ROOOAAARRR!!! A loud and powerful dragon''s roar resounded in the sky as five creatures that somewhat resemble dragons came out of the Dragon World portal. It was a total of five dragons in their dragonoid form being led by a bluish-white dragonoid with lightning sparks dancing around its body. These dragonoids had dragon heads, dragon legs and tail, dragon wings and finally a human torso. Male dragonoid had abs, chest, arms but dragon clawed hands while female dragonoids had slim waists and breasts covered by scales, soft and supple human skin but dragon clawed hands too. The lead dragonoid had grown a pair of small horns on its dragon head. Five 64 meter tall human look-alikes, muscle filled, thick skin, beast skin wearing geniuses from the Giants. The other alien races also brought out their absolute best geniuses of the younger generation. Five pale skin, crimson eyes, silver haired, high collar capes wearing geniuses from the Vampires. Five golden haired, golden eyed, golden armour wearing, white winged geniuses from the Angels. Five ponytail hairstyle, green skin, beast skin wearing, protruding canines, muscle filled body geniuses from the Orcs. Chapter 47: Dark Elf The geniuses from the Werewolves had similar traits to that of dragonoids, wolf head, wolf legs and tails, human torso, human arms and wolf claws. Female werewolves also had similar appearances except for their breasts which were covered in fur. The Demons also looked like humans except for their red skin, horns on their heads, shark teeth, black eyes, sharp nails and black energy swirling around them. The last race to make its appearances was the Beastmen Race that also looked human except for their beastly ears and tails, overall, they looked like cosplaying humans but in the nude like the demons. When these geniuses of each race made their very first entrance on planet Earth, the humans gulped in fear and trepidation because of how overwhelmingly powerful they were. Even General Chad looked at these geniuses with a sharp gaze because even he felt threatened by them. ¡®Such power, I''m afraid only Awakeners and Hunters could face off against them.¡¯ silently thought General Chad. The Zodiacs also looked at the geniuses warily because their overwhelming auras while the geniuses they came with were shaking in their boots. Their instincts and senses didn''t beat around the bush but gave it to them straight, if they dared to step foot on that stage, they would die in an instant. Centura also felt the same way, with his intelligence, he calculated many possibilities and scenarios but he died in all of them without a chance of escaping or fighting back. ¡­ Each race had brought out five of their very best geniuses in the Nebula Realm, geniuses that could jump levels and fight those stronger than them. Everyone turned their attention to Nolan, they wanted to see his expression after forcing these powerhouses to go all out in destroying but when they saw him, they were all shocked. Instead of seeing trepidation, fear and despair, Nolan had on his face a completely different expression, an expression none had expected. Nolan was actually drooling, yes, he was literally drooling as he analysed the geniuses of each race. ¡®Does he have a few loose screws on his head?¡¯ everyone thought. ¡°This is great, this is absolutely great! Today, I''m gonna have a buffet!¡± said Nolan as he wiped the drool off his face. ¡°I guess I won''t be needing this.¡± said Nolan as his walking stick turned into a sword which he then plunged into Cindy''s chest. ¡°NOOO!!!¡± screamed Jason. The necklace that Cindy was wearing broke and a barrier cocooned her within it. Nolan didn''t even bother trying to break the barrier because it was impossible. The person who''d created this barrier was at least a Propostar Realm expert because the barrier was infused with a Principle and he didn''t have the power to counter it. BOOM!!! ¡°Since you came here to fight, let''s fight!¡± said Nolan as he fully activated the Killing Scripture and released his Killing Domain which was five hundred meters in radius like the size of his Soul. Whatever Soulless gave him increased the size of his Soul by three hundred meters and even strengthened it further. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. [Killing Scripture: Killing Domain!] In a five hundred meter radius around Nolan, the ground turned red like it was covered in thick blood. The stench of blood even permeated the air. When Nolan was about to attack, something totally unexpected happened to the group of geniuses from the Demon Race. [Hlyx, what is happening?!] asked the female demon in her demon language. [I don''t know Biimi but I''m losing control of my weapon!] answered the demon called Hlyx, the biggest demon in the group and also the leader of these demons. [Me too!] [Me three!] [Mine too!] Said the other three demons called Exr, Fahl and Jongr. Exr was female and the other two demons were male. The demons watching from outside the arena were also confused by the whole situation. ¡®What''s going on?¡¯ they thought. [I don''t know what this guy did but let''s just kill him and everything will be fine!] said Hlyx as he immediately went for the kill and his teammates followed from right behind him. In an instant, they closed the distance between them and Nolan, appearing in front of him with weapons ready to kill but they realised after stepping into Nolan''s domain that they fucked up. Demons were often described as cruel and bloodthirsty creatures, which was true. Demons really were cruel and lived a life of spilling blood and killing, demons would rather be on the battlefield than just lazing around but when they entered Nolan''s domain, they realised something very important. [Such a strong stench of blood, he must have killed hundreds of millions at least!] exclaimed Exr. [That''s not important! Did you fucking forget what kind of weapons we''re carrying!] [Oh no! The Evil Weapons¡­] Hlyx didn''t even finish the sentence because when he entered the domain and appeared in front of Nolan, he lost connection to his blood red sword. When the demons attack landed on Nolan''s body, no damage was inflicted because they lost connection with their weapons which drastically decreased the power of their attacks. ¡®So weak!¡¯ said Nolan as he saw an opening and attacked the closest demon to him which was Hylx. Hlyx wanted to retreat but the sword he was carrying felt very heavy that he momentarily focused his attention on it which caused Nolan to target him. Hlyx dropped the sword and blocked the sword strike with his hand. Nolan''s sword then cleanly severed Hlyx''s arm as Hlyx and his teammates quickly retreated outside the domain. Shockingly, it wasn''t just Hlyx who dropped his weapon but also his teammates. Nolan then looked at his sword which a tiny bit corroded by Hlyx''s blood as demon blood was corrosive by nature. ¡®I need a better weapon.¡¯ thought Nolan as picked up the sword Hlyx dropped. After he picked up the sword, Nolan''s expression became blank. The demon elders spectating from outside the arena were elated at first when their five geniuses appeared in front of Nolan in an instant but when their attacks did nothing to him, they were surprised. What shocked them though was when Nolan cut off Hlyx''s arm like it was tofu, it immediately made them nervous. And when they saw Nolan picking up Hlyx''s sword and his expression becoming blank, they were immediately elated. ¡°Hahaha! Foolish human! Those aren''t ordinary weapons that just anyone can pick up and wield. Those are treasured weapons of the Demon Race, Unique Rank weapons, the Seven Deadly Weapons! These weapons also have Weapon Spirits that consume the Souls of the foolish and unworthy who dare to hold them. Hahaha! You''re dead!¡± shouted the demon elder. Unique Weapons are weapons that are used by Propostar Realm and Red Giant Realm experts because of how powerful they are. Even though the five demons were using them, they were only using probably less than than 10% of their power, not just that, they hadn''t even fully contracted the weapons so the power output was even lower. ¡­ While Nolan had a blank look, an elf sudden appeared behind him while holding two daggers and aimed for Nolan''s neck. This elf had ink black skin, very thin but tall body and lack of presence. ¡°I was wondering why there was an eighth portal this entire time, so it was a portal leading to the Dark Elf World portal. A race of assassins.¡± [DIE!!!] exclaimed the Dark Elf while his daggers drew closer to Nolan''s neck and Nolan was oblivious to it. Puchi! Splurt! Chapter 48: Death Flash Nolan''s neck was pierced through by two daggers and blood poured out like a bursted water pipe. Everyone from the human race widened their eyes in shock because they hadn''t really expected Nolan to be fatally wounded by the Dark Elf. They had expected Nolan to miraculously block the attacks and even counter the Dark Elf like his it went down in novels. Unfortunately, the assassin''s ambush was successful but the assassin wasn''t the slightest bit happy. ¡®What the fuck?!¡¯ he cursed inwardly. Puchi! A sword pierced through the assassin''s throat then with a swipe, the assassin was decapitated. ¡°Man I nearly died, if not for my strong bones, my head would be rolling on the ground right now.¡± said Nolan while brushing his neck that was now self healing. The reason why the assassin cursed in confusion was exactly because of Nolan''s bones. His sneak attack supposed to decapitate Nolan''s head, not fatally wound him. But the daggers couldn''t cut through Nolan''s spinal cord at all which confused him and clouded his judgement of immediately escaping. And for this mistake, he paid for it with his life. ¡®Lucky me, he wasn''t using Unique Rank Weapons or I''d be a goner. Also, his attack helped me to escape from my comprehension.¡¯ thought Nolan as he looked at the sword. He had received information about the sword from the sword and it was actually a very powerful weapon that absorbed Souls and Blood Essence of those it killed to grow stronger. It was a growth weapon that could increase its rank after it had absorbed enough Souls and Blood Essence. With this weapon, he even had the possibility of killing a Propostar Realm expert as a Nebula Realm expert which was a great feat in itself. ¡°Unfortunately, I''m a jack of all trades.¡± softly muttered Nolan as he picked up Hlyx''s arm and took a bite. The meat of the demon was especially chewy but not very tasty but it did give Nolan a pleasant surprise after he finished eating eating the arm. ¡®What a pleasant surprise, it actually increased the range of my domain by a negligible amount¡­ but an increase is still an increase.¡¯ thought Nolan while everyone looked at him as though they were looking at a monster. What Nolan or everyone didn''t expect was the sudden destruction of the five weapons including the sword Nolan was holding. The fragments of the weapons then floated in the air and began to fuse. One of the demon elders was watching this spectacle when he suddenly received a message. [WHAT?!] exclaimed the demon elder after reading the message. Immediately after, something came out of the Demon World portal at incredible speed and fused with the fragments in the air. [Hlyx, what the hell is going on?!] asked Miibi. [How should I fucking know!] answered Hlyx. [I think I know what this is.] said Exr. [What is it?] [I once read a book in the library. That book is very old and outdated but I was interested in its content. I came across a page in the book that spoke of a similar event to this. If I remember correctly, this process is called Weapon Metamorphosis whereby the weapon or a weapon set would change its structure completely in order to satisfy the needs of the user.] explained Exr.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. The fragments quickly fused and started the metamorphosis. The fused fragments constantly changed forms, sometimes it would be a sword, other times an axe, a bow or even the twin daggers. This went on for about ten minutes before it stopped. Metallic debris fell on the ground as a brand new weapon appeared in front of everyone. Its appearance was that of a black bangle that Nolan wore on his left wrist. He then poured some of his blood on the bangle in order to recognise him as its master. After it absorbed his blood, Nolan felt half connected with it and was very surprised by this. The bangle communicated with him, explaining why the connection was half done. ¡®So you also need a wisp of my Soul in order to complete the connection. Let''s complete it after my battle.¡¯ said Nolan telepathically to the bangle. ¡­ ¡°Now that everything is finally over, let''s start fighting. Do take this battle seriously or else you''ll die.¡± said Nolan arrogantly as his black bangle turned into a spear. The alien race geniuses didn''t comment and went on attack mode. This time, it was the vampires who attacked Nolan first, they entered his domain unperturbed and attacked him with their sharp nails. Nolan stabbed his spear forward at the vampire in front of him. The vampire blocked it with his arms while another vampire appeared behind him. Nolan pulled the spear back to hit the vampire behind with the butt of the spear but for a moment, his body didn''t listen to him and froze. In that moment, two other vampires grabbed Nolan''s arms and tried to rip them off but it proved difficult. Nolan regained control over his body but another Dark Elf appeared and severed his Achilles tendons, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground. A giant then tried to stomp him but Nolan dodged by rolling away. Another Dark Elf appeared from nowhere and stabbed his left eye, causing him excruciating pain but he didn''t scream but in that moment of distraction, earth spikes pierced through his body from the ground while also raising him to the air. The dragon leader moved at lightning speed, appearing in front of Nolan and punching a hole through his chest. [Game over.] said the dragonoid as Nolan was sent flying, crashing through the ground numerous times. Nolan stood up in difficulty, his domain also cancelled and wounded all over. ¡°You guys really have great teamwork, did you, it''s not your first time teaming up right but unfortunately for you, you''ve forced me to use my ultimate technique, prepare to die!¡± shouted Nolan with a vicious and crazy gaze. [Ultimate Technique: Death Flash!] Nolan released a blindingly bright light that blinded everyone both on stage and outside but no ambushes or explosions occurred. When the bright light receded, Nolan had escaped into the Demonic World portal, leaving a few words behind. ¡°I''ll be back for my World Spirit, make sure to protect it for me losers!¡± ¡­ ¡°Did he just fucking run away with his tail tucked between his legs?!¡± ¡°What the fuck! Such a cowardly guy has the title of Enemy Of Humanity!¡± ¡°Fucking coward! Come back!¡± The youths from Earth cursed, they were waiting to see Nolan''s ultimate technique which actually turned out to be an escape technique. Everyone had been fooled by Nolan. ¡°Shut up! You little shits don''t know anything! Do you think we would have given that guy the Hostis Humani Generis title if he was an idiot? If he wasn''t so smart and slippery, he would have died a long time ago yet here he is, still alive so what does that tell you about him? He doesn''t care about pride or public image, preserving his life is most important because he can live to fight another day! Fucking idiots!¡± exclaimed General Chad. ¡­ [That guy ran away with Blue''s body, we have to get it back.] said a Dark Elf that didn''t use its stealth anymore. [But how, that guy will probably eat him so how are we supposed to get it back?] asked another Dark Elf that appeared next to the one that just spoke. [That guy escaped with my dagger, I must get it back.] said the third elf. While the alien race geniuses were discussing stuff about Nolan, one of the geniuses remained quiet while looking at his bloodied hand. [Piri, what is it?] [Nothing.] [You''re wondering how that human survived your punch right? Even though I am also curious about how he did it, now is not the time. We need to obtain Earth''s World Spirit ASAP.] Chapter 49: Prove Me Wrong As soon as Nolan returned to the Demonic Sect World,he ordered the sect elders to give him all the information they had on dragons, giants, werewolves, vampires, dark elves, angels and demons. While the sect was gathering information for him, Nolan took out healing medicine from the treasury and healed his wounds. Soon, all the information that he''d requested was brought to him and Nolan quickly looked through it carefully. The more Nolan read, the more he seemed to become. ¡®Bloody bastards, dare to make me break the sect rules and lose face of the sect. Now watch how I completely destroy you.¡¯ said Nolan as he took out the Dark Elf corpse and started munching on it. ¡°Mhmmm, so delicious.¡± moaned Nolan as his body completely relaxed, closed his eyes and just enjoyed the delicacy called elf meat. The meat was rich in life energy and nutrients. Nolan could feel every cell in his body absorbing the life energy greedily, allowing for the reversal of cell ageing and cell division to take place. At this moment, Nolan truly felt like he was on cloud nine, his body filled with a sense of euphoria and ecstasy. Nolan forgot about his revenge and just enjoyed his meal. The elders watched from the side while Nolan ate. Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! ¡®Is it really that delicious?¡¯ thought the elders. ¡°Demonic Child, could I please have a taste.¡± said one of the elders who couldn''t help himself. The way Nolan ate the elf corpse made the elder crave this elf meat. ¡°Don''t waste it.¡± said Nolan as he gave the elder a juicy lung. The elder took the lung and bit into it but he regretted that decision immediately. The meat wasn''t delicious at all, he even wanted to spit it out but remembering Nolan''s words, he chewed the lung and swallowed it. The elder then decided to quickly eat everything and be done with it. After swallowing the lung, something unexpected occurred. The lung meat released a type of energy that left the elder feeling referred, his pores opened up and some of his cells came to life. The elder was completely shocked by this turn of events. A black, sticky and stinky substance was released from the elders body but not just that, he left that he entered secluded training for a few years, he''d advance to the Red Giant Realm. ¡®Unbelievable!¡¯ he exclaimed inwardly. ¡­ An hour later, not only had Nolan finished eating the elf corpse, he had also digested all the information he''d asked for and now, it was time to get revenge. His wounds had also fully healed and he was now in peak condition. ¡­ When he came out of the portal, the genius races were in standoff, none willing to make the first move. ¡®Why the fuck aren''t you fighting?! I''ve been gone for a whole hour but nothing has happened! Fucking weaklings!¡¯ cursed Nolan inwardly as he descended to the state battle stage. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ¡°I''m back but before you start ganging up on me like last time, I want to say something. The Giants could beat the Dragons in a one on one fight because Dragons are weak and the Giants are strong. Prove me wrong. Werewolves are the true rulers of the night and vampires are inferior to werewolves, prove me wrong.¡± said Nolan calmly. Nolan then took out a spear from his storage ring and threw it at the Demons, Hlyx caught the spear with a confused gaze. ¡°I heard that Demons love hunting Angels so that''s my gift to the Demons. That spear is called Featherless Night, it was crafted from Angel wings but the Angel is still alive but dead inside, hahaha.¡± When Nolan read the information about these races, he found a common description for every one of them except for the Orcs and Beastmen. The common trait was that these races were extremely prideful but it was mentioned in a not so important manner. The highlights of the information was about their abilities and powers but Nolan cared about none of that and only on their personalities and now he used it against them. Some might say this is the oldest trick in the book and wouldn''t work but Nolan begged to differ. The Giants looked at the Dragons with an arrogant and taunting smile, their chests puffed out in pride while the Dragons were seething with anger. One of the dragonoids l geniuses couldn''t hold himself back anymore and attacked. [You overgrown idiots dare to mock us! Die!] His hand turned into a massive dragon''s claw that collided with the club of one of the giants. The two of them were pushed back. ¡°Giants superior to Dragons, hahaha!¡± said the giant. [You¡­ you¡­ fucking die¡­ROOOAAARRR!] shouted the dragonoid as he transformed into a fifty meters long brown scaled dragon. Its appearance fearsome, domineering and majestic. Black tattoos appeared all over the giant''s body as he also readied his club. The two then began a fierce battle while the giant kept angering the brown scaled dragon more. ¡°You smaller than me. You prove Dragons inferior to Giants!¡± [ROOOAAARRR!] The other dragonoids and giants also joined the battle with the giants laughing after every clash, making the dragons eyes turn red from rage. As for the vampires and werewolves, it took only a few words from the Werewolves for the fight to occur. ¡°How ridiculous this human is, we all know that Vampires are the true night rulers.¡± said the lead werewolf. ¡°The vampires don''t need charity from mongrels. Today, we''ll prove that vampires are the rulers of the night, not told by you!¡± said the lead vampire and the tworaces started fighting. As for the Demons and Angels, Angels liked to save face and wouldn''t allow anything to tarnish their reputation, especially from Demons. [Demon, give us that spear and we''ll spare your lives.] said the lead angel. [And why would I do that, I''m not your servant. If you truly want the spear, come and take it.] said Hlyx slyly. [Demon, you brought this upon yourself.] said the lead angel and the battle between angels and demons began. The Beastmen and the Orcs watched from the side lines. Nolan on the other hand smiled in happiness and moved around the battlefield like a fish in water. He kept on releasing a burst of wind as he moved around and after doing this a few times, he seemed to obtain what he was looking for. He moved at this fastest speed, took out his Death Space item and activated it. ¡°Got you.¡± said Nolan at nothing. Once the Death Space had taken effect, he made his move. [Ultimate Technique: Death Flash!] A blinding light enveloped the entirety of the Death Space that both those inside and outside couldn''t see anything. In a minute or so, Nolan deactivated the Death Space and he could be seen holding three dark elf heads. He stored away the heads and looked for his next targets. ¡°You.¡± he said as ran towards the battle between angels and demons who were fighting in the sky, activated his Death Space item and trapped the angels and Demon''s with him. Nolan then decreased the size of the Death Space to be around five hundred meters in radius. [Killing Scripture: Killing Domain!] Chapter 50: Soul Enslavement! As soon as the angels were trapped in the Death Space, they quickly entered into a formation and created a barrier that protected them from the brackish red smoke that filled the space. Nolan was disappointed by this because he wanted to divide and conquer but now that they''d created a barrier, things had gotten a little difficult. As for the Demons, he didn''t worry too much because he already had something in mind, something that would help him rise in strength while also taking care of the angels. [Nightmare Illusion!] ¡­ Outside the Death Space, the spectators couldn''t see what was challenging inside because of the blackish red smoke that filled the Death Space, just when they were about to lose interest in the Death Space, they seemed to have discovered something interesting. ¡®Is that a person''s hand?¡¯ they thought. On the edge of the barrier, there seemed to be someone standing there but they couldn''t see the person clearly but they could see the person''s hand touching the Death Space barrier. While trying to see through the smoke, the sound of a running stream made its way into their ears, followed by the bellowing crocodile sound that ended with the sound of a howling wind. Then came the sound of a weeping bear, the sound of children''s whispers, the sound of a crying woman, a moaning man''s sound, and all kinds of creepy sounds. These creepy sounds even stopped the fights between the vampires and werewolves, the giants and the dragons. [Hey! This place sounds scary, can you please get me out of here!] sounded a young girl''s voice. The hand kept slamming on the barrier in panic. [Please! Please come and get me! Please!] screamed the figure with a young girl''s voice. While this figure was banging on the barrier and screaming for help, two glowing eyes appeared behind the figure. [Please help me! Help me ple¡­] the figure was then dragged away by whatever had appeared behind him. Everyone watching thought that it was finally over and relaxed their bodies. BOOOOM!!! [PLEASE HELP ME! HELP ME! I DON''T WANT TO DIE!] The figure appeared again but this time, his appearance was completely visible to everyone and he looked as horrific as his voice was. It was a middle aged man covered in blood and naked, he was holding his intestines from falling out of his stomach. A part of his head was bitten off and he hadn''t a heart. ¡°Oh my fucking god!¡± exclaimed some of the youths from the human side. Some were completely horrified by this scene while others were so disgusted that they vomited. Nolan then appeared beside the man with a smile on his face. He hooked his arm around the man''s neck and spoke to the audience. ¡°If you are human and decide to enter the battle stage, this is what you''ll look like after I''m done with you hehe.¡± said Nolan as the blackish red smoke engulfed the both of them.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡­ Inside the Death Space, Nolan didn''t bother with the angels who were protected by their barrier but instead shifted his attention to the demons who were helpless against his domain. Although the demons didn''t seem to be affected by the domain, they were actually already under his Nightmare Illusion, he could tell by how their bodies kept shivering like they were naked in the snow. He then concentrated the smoke into spheres that then disappeared into the glabellas of the demons. [Killing Concept: Soul Enslavement!] When Nolan tried to enslave the demons, something unexpected happened. The demons transformed into their original appearances. Hlyx the leader had the lower body of a red lobster with massive pincers, a human torso with a big eye on the chest and a big mouth on the stomach. Exr transformed into a plant-like lifeform with many vines that released a green substance that was acidic. Fahl transformed into a canine with sulphuric scent, no fur and was covered in blue flames. Jongr transformed into what seemed to be a cross breed between a snake and a centipede, looking very scary and fierce. Biimi transformed and she had the lower body of a black widow spider and the upper body of a human female except her skin was crimson red. She had eight eyes, a hairy body and jaws of a spider for a mouth. ¡°I didn''t expect that all of you have already created your own Concepts but it''s still futile. My Killing Concept is stronger than your Concepts combined! Enslave!] SCREECH!!! GRRRR!!! ROOAAR!!! The five demons tried their best to resist but as Nolan had said, their actions were futile. Slave marks were imprinted on their Souls, it was imprints of a flying fish. [Destroy the barrier that protects those pigeons from my domain! Don''t hold back!] ordered Nolan after successfully enslaving the demons. The demons nodded and did as told, each one of them released their strongest attacks. Hlyx''s pincers glowed in a crimson energy, small profound lines like veins spread across the big pincers as he jumped up and attacked the barrier. BOOM!!! Exr''s vines intertwined to create a very big and very sharp vine with a lot of acid concentrated at its tip, the vines had the same small profound lines like that of Hlyx¡¯s. BOOM!!! Fahl''s throat inflated as the profound lines appeared around his neck and he released a high temperature fireball. BOOM!!! Jongr''s centipede legs and snake head were covered in profound lines as he clashed directly with the barrier. BOOM!!! Biimi released dozens of silk threads that had the small profound lines along the silk threads that collided with the barrier. BOOM!!! [The Demons are using their Concept imbued attacks! The barrier can''t hold on for long! Luke! What should we do? The barrier can''t hold on for long!] exclaimed one of the angels. [I didn''t expect all five demons to have created their own Concepts but what I don''t get is why aren''t they fighting the human? Give me all of your energy, I shall release my strongest skill¡­ hopefully it works.] The last part was whispered by the angel called Luke. The angels then gave all their energy to Luke, who took it all and activated his strongest skill. [Divine Skill: Divine Judgement!] A massive eyeball appeared outside the Death Space, the eyeball was milky white and had two golden wings to fly around with. The eye was so big that everyone seemed small and insignificant. After locking in on its target, the eye glowed brighter and brighter until it shone as bright as the sun then released a high concentration of light energy. [Divine Judgment!] BOOOOM!!! The light energy collided with the Death Space barrier, cracked it then broke it. The light energy didn''t just stop there but continued to destroy anything on its path and this time, the demons were the ones it was tasked with judging. The light energy didn''t destroy the demons but instead invaded their bodies, causing the reaction of opposite elements which led to the demons self imploding. BOOOOM!!!! (¡Á5) The entire Death Space collapsed and the angels were finally free from the trap Nolan had set for them but there was one problem, the angels were completely depleted of their energy which also meant that they were at their most vulnerable conditions right now. ¡®We succed¡­¡¯ [Bloody pigeons! You dare to damage my Soul?! DIE!]